What is the source of the allusion in the sentence below?
Brody got off the mountain by the skin of his teeth.
the Bible U.S. history
An allusion is a brief mention of something or someone well known, often from mythology, history, or literature. An allusion lets you reference ideas from an entire story in just a few words.
The protean nature of the disease makes it difficult to diagnose.
The word protean is an allusion to the sea god Proteus in Greek mythology. Because the sea is constantly changing, to describe something as protean suggests that it is variable or in flux.
The source of the allusion by the skin of his teeth is the Bible.
In the Bible, Job complains to God about his hardships, saying that both strangers and those he loves have turned against him. He says, "My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth." Scholars have long debated the exact meaning of the phrase, but many claim that Job is saying that he narrowly escaped death.
The allusion by the skin of his teeth means just barely.