Ok, am I missing something???
Indeed dear Lucky you are missing something. I see that you are having great difficulty figuring this out. So here in this passage from Act III, Scene 4 of Hamlet is its use. Used in this context and in my context cited by you last evening, it crudely means to be blown up (hoisted) by one's own explosive (petard). I'll leave it to you to back track and re-read my post with your new found insight.
HAMLET
There's letters seal'd: and my two schoolfellows,
Whom I will trust as I will adders fang'd,
They bear the mandate; they must sweep my way,
And marshal me to knavery. Let it work;
For 'tis the sport to have the engineer
Hoist with his own petard: and 't shall go hard
But I will delve one yard below their mines,
And blow them at the moon: O, 'tis most sweet,
When in one line two crafts directly meet.
This man shall set me packing:
I'll lug the guts into the neighbour room.
Mother, good night. Indeed this counsellor
Is now most still, most secret and most grave,
Who was in life a foolish prating knave.
Come, sir, to draw toward an end with you.
Good night, mother.
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