Greek gift

noun

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of Greek gift¹

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

Example Sentences

The venerable “Greek gift” Bxh7+ sacrifice is a rare visitor to top-level chess, since even your decent club player has learned to spot the tactical motif a mile away.

From Washington Times

The so-called “Greek gift” — a bishop sacrifice against the castled king on the h-file followed by a knight-and-queen mating attack — is one of the oldest tactical motifs in the game.

From Washington Times

Chamberlain’s appeasement at Munich, Napoleon’s march to Moscow, the sale of the Louisiana territory, the Bay of Pigs fiasco, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the Trojans’ acceptance of the Greek gift horse all come to mind.

From The New Yorker

Others over time have, of course, had more consequence: one thinks of Eve and that apple; the Trojans and that Greek gift; the smouldering baker's oven in Pudding Lane; the Light Brigade and the wrong valley; Neville Chamberlain and that piece of paper; the Decca Records executive who turned down The Beatles because "guitar groups are on the way out"; and the less well-known, such as the Canadian seeking to escape the danger of nuclear war who emigrated to the Falklands shortly before the Argentine invasion.

From BBC

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

From Project Gutenberg