Petard
Petard
/pɛˈtɑːd/ (n.)
From French: a small bomb comprising a box filled with powder, used to blast down a door or to make a hole in a wall. A squib; a firecracker. If it goes off it will frighten the bejesus out of the financial analyst community and may cause a bank run.
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Let it work,
For ’tis the sport to have the enginer
Hoist with his own petard; and ’t shall go hard
But I will delve one yard below their mines
And blow them at the moon.
- —Hamlet, III, iv
Hence, to be hoist by one’s own ~: to blow oneself up. Something that financial institutions are periodically prone. Note, to hoist here means to be thrown into the air, rather than raised by some kind of winch.
See also
- Lucky
- The first rule of Systemic Solvency Club