Greek gift

British  

noun

1. a gift given with the intention of tricking and causing harm to the recipient

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Etymology

Origin of Greek gift

C19: in allusion to Virgil's Aeneid ii 49; see also _{Trojan Horse}

Example Sentences

Despite the urgings of citizens that the Greek gift be destroyed or at least broken open, Troy's leaders take it in, hidden Greeks and all, because the gods have so ordained.

From Time Magazine Archive

This is universally admitted, but justice is more rarely done to even clearer evidence of the Greek gift for technique.

From The Legacy of Greece Essays By: Gilbert Murray, W. R. Inge, J. Burnet, Sir T. L. Heath, D'arcy W. Thompson, Charles Singer, R. W. Livingston, A. Toynbee, A. E. Zimmern, Percy Gardner, Sir Reginald Blomfield by Livingstone, R.W.

Up to the present Ministers have found it a Greek gift.

From Punch, or The London Charivari, Vol. 150, May 31, 1916 by Various

Amenities from Carlsen were likely a Greek gift.

From A Man to His Mate by Mulford, Stockton