Midas touch en · PROPN
Pronunciation
- /ˌmaɪdəs ˈtʌt͡ʃ/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
- (Australia) audio
Etymology
From the Greek legend of King Midas, related in chapter XI of Ovid’s Metamorphoses (8 C.E.), whom Dionysus (the god of, among other things, wine and winemaking) gave the power to turn things to gold by touching them.
Meanings
-
(Greek, literally) The ability to turn everything one touches into gold.
All phenomena that arouse moral indignation if they occur in bourgeois society are turned to gold, as if by a Midas touch, if they serve the interests of the new power: the armed invasion of a foreign state is liberation, aggression is defence, tortures represent the people's noble rage against the exploiters.
1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 516:
- (idiomatic) The ability to achieve financial reward (or, more generally, success) from one's actions easily and consistently.
Antonyms
Deriveds
Relateds
golden era · golden boy · chrysopoeia · everything one touches turns to gold · golden age
Synonyms
Translations (6)
pl dotyk Midasa (ability to gain financial reward or success from one’s actions easily and consistently) · el το άγγιγμα του Μίδα (ability to gain financial reward or success from one’s actions easily and consistently) · it tocco di Mida (ability to gain financial reward or success from one’s actions easily and consistently) · fi Midaan kosketus (ability to gain financial reward or success from one’s actions easily and consistently) · gl toque de Midas (ability to gain financial reward or success from one’s actions easily and consistently) · pt toque de Midas (ability to gain financial reward or success from one’s actions easily and consistently)