face that launched a thousand ships, Was this the
Save This Word!
A line from the sixteenth-century play Doctor Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe. Faustus says this when the devil Mephistopheles (Marlowe spells the name “Mephistophilis”) shows him Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman in history. The “thousand ships” are warships, a reference to the Trojan War (see also Trojan War).
QUIZ
QUIZ YOURSELF ON "IS" VS. "ARE"
"Is" it time for a new quiz? "Are" you ready? Then prove your excellent skills on using "is" vs. "are."
Question 1 of 7
IS and ARE are both forms of which verb?
Words nearby face that launched a thousand ships, Was this the
face-saver, face-saving, facet, facete, facetectomy, face that launched a thousand ships, Was this the, face the music, facetiae, face time, facetious, facet joint
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.