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Double-edged Sword

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Literally, a sword which cuts either way; metaphorically, an argument which makes both for and against the person employing it, or which has a double meaning.        

“‘Your Delphic sword,ʹ the panther then replied,

‘Is double-edged, and cuts on either side.ʹ”

1


Dryden: Hind and Panther, part iii. 191–2.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Doss
Doss-house (A)
Dosser
Do-the-Boys Hall
Dot and go One (A)
Dotterel
Douay Bible
Double (To)
Double Dealing
Double Dutch
Double-edged Sword
Double Entendre (English-French for Un mot à double entente, or à deux ententes)
Double First (A)
Double-headed Eagle (The)
Double-tongued
Double up (To)
Double X
Double or Quits
Doubles or Double-walkers
Doubting Castle
Douceur. (French.)