Trojan Horse
WordNet

noun


(1)   A large hollow wooden figure of a horse (filled with Greek soldiers) left by the Greeks outside Troy during the Trojan War
(2)   A program that appears desirable but actually contains something harmful
"The contents of a trojan can be a virus or a worm"
"When he downloaded the free game it turned out to be a trojan horse"
(3)   A subversive group that supports the enemy and engages in espionage or sabotage; an enemy in your midst
WiktionaryText

Noun



  1. a hollow wooden horse by which the Greeks gained access to Ilium or Troy.
  2. a subversive person or device placed within the ranks of the enemy
  3. a malicious program that is disguised as legitimate software
    • 1991. Katie Hafner & John Markoff. Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier (1995 revised edition), Simon and Schuster ISBN 0684818620 p. 255-256
      Worse than what could be observed about the program was the fear that it might be a Trojan horse program -- apparently innocent, but carrying a string of code instructing the computer to carry out a specific damaging instruction at some later time.
  4. an offer made to lure customers by seeming like a good deal, but has the ultimate effect of extorting large amounts of money from the customer
  5. a social movement, political bill, or ideology with a negative agenda or evil intentions under the guise of positive values or good intentions
    • 2003. Krugman, Paul R. The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century (2004 reprint), W. W. Norton & Company ISBN 0393326055 p. 449
      Indeed, it may turn out to be a Trojan horse that finally allows conservative ideologues, who have unsuccessfully laid siege to Medicare since the days of Barry Goldwater, to breach its political defenses.

Quotations

  • 1981, Michael R. Hill "Positivism: A 'Hidden' Philosophy in Geography" in Themes in Geographic Thought edited by Milton E. Harvey & Brian P. Holly; Taylor & Francis ISBN 0709901887 p. 48-49
    Thus positivist ideas can slip into geography just as the Greeks slipped into Troy via the belly of a wooden horse. .... Fortunately, the Trojan Horse hypothesis today describes fewer and fewer geographers.
 
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