Pearl Harbour
[The name (Pearl Harbor) of a U.S. naval base on Oahu, one of the Hawaiian Islands: tr. Hawaiian Wai Momi, lit. ‘pearl waters’.]
Used with direct allusion to the military attack by Japanese aircraft on Pearl Harbour on 7 December 1941, which, delivered without a declaration of war, severely damaged the surprised U.S. Pacific fleet and began the Pacific phase of the war of 1939–45. Also transf. and fig. Hence as v. trans., to attack suddenly and effectively.
| 1942 Progressive 31 Jan. 272/2 Compare these recently abandoned myths in Britain with the pre-Pearl Harbor folklore about the Japanese which prevailed in the United States. 1942 Capital (Topeka, Kansas) 20 Mar. 15/3 Delay along this line is the delay that spells Pearl Harbor to the vital industrial nerve centers of our economy. 1945 Koestler Twilight Bar ii. 44 Maybe they are doing a Pearl Harbour on us. 1955 Times 22 Aug. 7/2 This dangerous local situation could be the result of military aggression or of political subversion. In fact, the real danger is not now so much of an ‘atomic Pearl Harbour’ as of a new Sarajevo murder, building up into a major atomic war. 1959 Economist 10 Jan. 99/2 It will put a premium on ‘Pearl Harbour’ tactics to knock out opposing missiles before they leave the ground. 1963 Guardian 8 Jan. 8/4 No aggressor would dare to Pearl-Harbour any member nation of this club. 1974 Ibid. 25 Mar. 15/4 Hornby was working for the Japanese Ministry of Education when Pearl Harbour came. 1975 Listener 14 Aug. 211/1 In 1970, Aston Villa were relegated to the third division. Eric Woodward, the commercial manager, describes that as ‘our Pearl Harbour’. 1978 Times 20 May 14/2 Mrs Thatcher was caught with the Sunday morning Pearl Harbour attack by Mr Peregrine Worsthorne..in last week's Sunday Telegraph. |