Delahunty, Andrew; Sheila Dignen; Penelope Stock; Penny Stock;
The Oxford Dictionary of Allusions
Oxford University Press, 2001, 453 pages
ISBN 0198600313, 9780198600312
topics: | myth | literature | quotation | bible | reference
An excellent reference to turn to for finding out what classical reference is being made. You get to see what the word means, and how some fogies may have used it. Organized by category, so it's great to browse, and you never know who might show up: BEELZEBUB In the Old Testament, Beelzebub (literally 'the lord of the flies') is the God of the Philistine city Ekron (2 Kgs. 1). He is mentioned in several of the Gospels, where he is called 'the prince of demons'. Beelzebub is often identified with the Devil. In Paradise Lost, however, Milton gives the name to one of the fallen angels, next to Satan in power. She 'spaed fortunes', read dreams, composed philtres, discovered stolen goods, and made and dissolved matches as successfully as if, according to the belief of the whole neighbourhood, she had been aided in those arts by Beelzebub himself. - WALTER SCOTT The Bride of Lammermoor, 1819 Winterborne was standing in front of the brick oven in his shirt-sleeves, tossing in thorn-sprays, and stirring about the blazing mass with a long-handled, three-pronged Beelzebub kind of fork. - THOMAS HARDY The Woodlcinders, 1887 p.109