Trojan horse

1. A subversive group or device placed within enemy ranks.

2. The hollow wooden horse in which, according to legend, Greeks hid and gained entrance to Troy, later opening the gates to their army.

3. Computers A program that appears to be legitimate but is designed to have destructive effects, as to data residing in the computer onto which the program was loaded.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Trojan Horse

1. (Classical Myth & Legend) Greek myth Also called: the Wooden Horse the huge wooden hollow figure of a horse left outside Troy by the Greeks when they feigned retreat and dragged inside by the Trojans. The men concealed inside it opened the city to the final Greek assault

2. a trap intended to undermine an enemy

3. (Computer Science) computing a bug inserted into a program or system designed to be activated after a certain time or a certain number of operations

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

Tro′jan horse′

1. a gigantic hollow wooden horse that the Greeks left at the gates of Troy as a feigned sacrifice: once the horse was within the walls, soldiers emerging from it allowed the Greek army to enter and conquer the city.

2. a person or thing intended to undermine or destroy from within.

3. a nonreplicating computer program planted illegally in another program to do damage locally when the software is activated. Compare virus (def. 4).

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	Trojan horse - a subversive group that supports the enemy and engages in espionage or sabotage; an enemy in your midst fifth column social unit, unit - an organization regarded as part of a larger social group; "the coach said the offensive unit did a good job"; "after the battle the soldier had trouble rejoining his unit" fifth columnist, saboteur - a member of a clandestine subversive organization who tries to help a potential invader
	2.	trojan horse - 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" trojan malevolent program - a computer program designed to have undesirable or harmful effects
	3.	Trojan Horse - a large hollow wooden figure of a horse (filled with Greek soldiers) left by the Greeks outside Troy during the Trojan War Wooden Horse Ellas, Greece, Hellenic Republic - a republic in southeastern Europe on the southern part of the Balkan peninsula; known for grapes and olives and olive oil

Translations

δούρειος ίππος

cheval de Troie

trójuhestur

cavallo di Troia

Trojan Horse

n (lit, fig) → Trojanisches Pferd; (Comput, Internet) (also Trojan horse) → trojanisches Pferd, → Trojaner m (inf)

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

That devilish Iron Horse, whose ear-rending neigh is heard throughout the town, has muddied the Boiling Spring with his foot, and he it is that has browsed off all the woods on Walden shore, that Trojan horse, with a thousand men in his belly, introduced by mercenary Greeks!

View in context

The conflict between the Eighth Circuit and the NLRB reveals an important point unrecognized by courts and commentators that have addressed this issue: the answer to the legal question whether trojan horse organizers are employees under agency law ultimately reduces to a purely empirical judgment about whether such organizers are likely to -- or do in fact -- shirk their job responsibilities.

Are trojan horse union organizers "employees?": a new look at deference to the NLRB's interpretation of NLRA section 2(3)

The report's authors said they wanted "to give voice to the many victims of Islamophobia who shared their experiences with us", and included comments from one unnamed Birmingham person who told them: "Let's not forget that we are standing in a city where the so-called Trojan Horse affair happened.

Mahmood takes aim ATTROJAN Horse deniers: 'I was there'

Trojan malware takes its name from the classical story of the Trojan horse, and initially appears to be something legitimate but will, in fact, do something malicious.

Police warn over cyber threat bugs; 600 computers at risk

Nansen was placed in special measures last year with four other Birmingham schools following Trojan Horse claims of takeover plots by hardline Muslims.

Trojan head axed in office upgrade row

However, it is understood there is no specic reference to one of the most controversial allegations in the Trojan Horse letter, stating that a radical preacher had spoken at a pupils' assembly.

'TROJAN' SCHOOL HITS BACK AT DOWNGRADE

It is not the immigrant we should fear, but the Trojan horse who's belly is full of scaremongering and thinly veiled racism.

Fear racism, not immigration; Letters

Miles, who graduated from Northumbria University three years ago, says he has nowhere to put the Trojan horse and he's forced to keep it in his parents' garden until the start of the exhibition in March.

Neigh-bours love my Trojan horse; Artist's 14ft model has to be kept in parents' garden

This new variant, like the initial RSPlug.A Trojan horse, has been found on pornographic web sites.

Variant of RSPlug Trojan horse discovered

The spam campaign was discovered on 18 April by Sophos, which identified the Trojan horse as Mal/Packer which attempts to steal usernames, passwords and other information from online bankers.

Sophos warns of malware posing as Virginia Tech footage

Could it be possible that the multitude of foreign temples in this land are perhaps Trojan horses? And as such in any future 'overt' conflict they would be so invaluable for those who oppose our way of life.

Trojan horsesin our midst?

However, this is not the definition of a Trojan horse. A Trojan horse is a seemingly legitimate computer program that has been intentionally designed to disrupt and damage compute--activity.

79% believe Mac will be targeted more often in wake of Leap-A Mac OS X worm