petard
Americannoun
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an explosive device formerly used in warfare to blow in a door or gate, form a breach in a wall, etc.
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a kind of firecracker.
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Also called Flying Dustbin. (initial capital letter) a British spigot mortar of World War II that fired a 40-pound (18-kilogram) finned bomb, designed to destroy pillboxes and other concrete obstacles.
idioms
noun
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(formerly) a device containing explosives used to breach a wall, doors, etc
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being the victim of one's own schemes
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a type of explosive firework
Etymology
Origin of petard
First recorded in 1590–1600; from Middle French, equivalent to pet(er) “to break wind” (derivative of pet, from Latin pēditum “a breaking wind,” originally neuter of past participle of pēdere “to break wind”) + -ard noun suffix; see -ard
Explanation
A petard was a very small bomb typically used for blowing holes in doors and gates, and not for bombing an entire troop or village. They had cannons for those bigger jobs. Just like the bomb itself, the word petard has mostly fallen out of use today. It may be familiar, however, from the phrase "hoist with your own petard," which comes from Shakespeare (though he called it a petar) and means "to be hurt by your own plan to hurt someone else," "to fall into your own trap," or, essentially, "to be blown up by your own bomb."
Vocabulary lists containing petard
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
You have to give the union credit for hoisting Mr. Newsom on his own petard.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2025
AI companies just been hoisted with their own petard?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 30, 2025
Ophelia herself is hoist with the same petard.
From New York Times ● Jun. 28, 2023
On the other hand, I was happily hoist by my own obsessive petard by a passing reference to a “dirty martini.”
From Washington Post ● Mar. 23, 2023
We were full seven hundred short, and then the petard went off too soon, and did no good, but brought the whole town upon us.
From The Huguenot: (Volumes I-III) A Tale of the French Protestants. by James, G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
