Montezuma's revenge

Related to Montezuma's revenge: Traveler's diarrhea

Montezuma's revenge

slang Diarrhea, especially that which is contracted from food poisoning. Usually refers to tourists traveling in Mexico (Montezuma II was the emperor of Mexico in the beginning of the 1500s) who lack immunity to bacteria that can be transferred via food and local drinking water. The best way to avoid Montezuma's revenge is to drink bottled water.
See also: revenge
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

Montezuma’s revenge

(mɑntəˈzuməz rɪˈvɛndʒ)
n. diarrhea; tourist diarrhea. (Refers to tourists in Mexico.) I had a little touch of Montezuma’s revenge the second day, but other than that we had a wonderful time.
See also: revenge
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

Montezuma's revenge

Traveler’s diarrhea, contracted by travelers in Mexico but elsewhere as well. The expression alludes to Montezuma, the last Aztec emperor. and dates from the mid-1900s. Tennessee Williams used it in The Night of the Iguana, as have many other writers. Another name for the condition is Aztec two-step, but that has not become widespread.
See also: revenge
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • Montezuma
  • Montezuma’s revenge
  • Aztec two-step
  • Basra belly
  • Delhi belly
  • tourista
  • turista
  • turistas
  • the green apple quickstep
  • green apple quickstep
References in periodicals archive
Montezuma's revenge can strike the unwary and spoil what would otherwise be a great holiday.
Because in Cumbria, unlike the Blairs in Umbria, we won't have to worry about Montezuma's revenge, mosquito bites, travel plugs or having to beat the Germans to the sunbeds.
Travelers jokingly call it Montezuma's revenge. Physicians know it as traveler's diarrhea.
Yet the biggest target was Chelsea keeper Peter Bonetti, called into action when Gordon Banks went down with Montezuma's Revenge on the morning of the game.
We go out for a curry on a Friday night, come back, get Montezuma's revenge and the skids - but people are dying of that here because the water is not pure enough for them.
Montezuma's Revenge sounds a more appropriate name for a drink which leaves drinkers looking as if they've gone ten rounds with the Spanish Inquisition.
On a work trip to Mexico some years ago, I had a bad attack of Montezuma's revenge - the nickname given to a particularly unpleasant type of local stomach upset.
There's "Legionnaires' Disease," Basque separatists" and even "Montezuma's revenge".
Delhi belly, the Pharoah's curse and Montezuma's revenge - colourful descriptions for getting struck down by food poisoning-can ruin your holiday.
"But I was struggling at half-time because I had a real dose of the Montezuma's Revenge.
Montezuma's Revenge ruled out Gordon Banks and replacement Peter Bonetti had a nightmare
Relax, though, we're talking about top notch quality grub and, a week or so after my visit to Mariachi, there's no sign of Montezuma's revenge.
'Banks of England' will just have to content himself with his 1966 World Cup winners' medal - and he might have had another one had he not succumbed to Montezuma's Revenge in Mexico.
Montezuma's Revenge alludes to countries colonised by stronger powers getting their own back, but, in the context of diarrhoea, refers to the problems faced by tourists eating strange, foreign food.