投鞭断流

投鞭斷流

tóubiān-duànliú

idiom

Meanings

1 to dam a river by throwing in whips
2 (of an army) huge and powerful

Characters

Examples

HSK 7-9

敌人有百万大军，号称投鞭断流。

Dírén yǒu bǎiwàn dàjūn, hàochēng tóubiān-duànliú.

The enemy had an army of a million and boasted that it could dam the river with its whips.

HSK 7-9

苻坚以为自己的大军可以投鞭断流，结果在淝水之战中大败。

Fú Jiān yǐwéi zìjǐ de dàjūn kěyǐ tóubiān-duànliú, jiéguǒ zài Féishuǐ zhī Zhàn zhōng dàbài.

Fu Jian believed his huge army could dam the river with its whips, but he was routed at the Battle of the Fei River.

Tips

history

From the Book of Jin. In 383 苻坚, ruler of the Former Qin, marched on the Eastern Jin against his ministers' advice and boasted that if every soldier threw his whip into the Yangtze, the river would stop flowing. He was routed at the 淝水之战, so the phrase is often used with irony about trusting in sheer numbers.

Stroke Order

投 tóu

鞭 biān

断 duàn

流 liú