Question

dragon's teeth noun In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne's child, Pearl, "never created a friend, but seemed always to be sowing broadcast the dragon's teeth, whence sprung a harvest of armed enemies, against whom she rushed to battle." In Hawthorne and elsewhere, "dragon's teeth" alludes to a story involving Cadmus, the legendary Phoenician hero reputed to have founded Thebes and invented the alphabet. The tale holds that Cadmus killed a dragon and planted its teeth in the ground. From the teeth sprang fierce armed men who battled one another until all were dead but five. These founded the noblest families of Thebes and helped build its citadel. 1 : seeds of strife2 : wedge-shaped concrete antitank barriers laid in multiple rows

Accepted Answer

November 25, 2013 DRAG-unz-TEETH The political analyst insisted that the government's policy was misguided and would only sow dragon's teeth by increasing poverty and discontent.   "Assiduously sown by the Kremlin, the dragon's teeth of demagoguery, paranoia, xenophobia, anti-Westernism, intolerance, and obscurantism are bound to yield a toxic harvest when the regime falters or loses control outright." - From an article by Leon Aron, posted October 24, 2013 at american.com

Word	dragon's teeth
Date	November 25, 2013
Type	noun
Syllables	DRAG-unz-TEETH
Etymology	In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne's child, Pearl, "never created a friend, but seemed always to be sowing broadcast the dragon's teeth, whence sprung a harvest of armed enemies, against whom she rushed to battle." In Hawthorne and elsewhere, "dragon's teeth" alludes to a story involving Cadmus, the legendary Phoenician hero reputed to have founded Thebes and invented the alphabet. The tale holds that Cadmus killed a dragon and planted its teeth in the ground. From the teeth sprang fierce armed men who battled one another until all were dead but five. These founded the noblest families of Thebes and helped build its citadel.
Examples	The political analyst insisted that the government's policy was misguided and would only sow dragon's teeth by increasing poverty and discontent. "Assiduously sown by the Kremlin, the dragon's teeth of demagoguery, paranoia, xenophobia, anti-Westernism, intolerance, and obscurantism are bound to yield a toxic harvest when the regime falters or loses control outright." - From an article by Leon Aron, posted October 24, 2013 at american.com
Definition	1 : seeds of strife 2 : wedge-shaped concrete antitank barriers laid in multiple rows

Teeth Dragon's Harvest Armed Founded Thebes November Noun