To act out of pique in a way that injures oneself more than anyone else. The term appears about 1200 as a Latin proverb recorded by Peter of Blois. It was repeated in the mid-seventeenth century by Gedéon Tallemant des Réaux in recounting the history of France: “Henry IV understood very well that to destroy Paris would be, as they say, to cut off his nose to spite his face.”