tuì​táng​gǔ

court-recess drum

退堂鼓 tuì​táng​gǔ
court-recess drum
Drumming that signals an official's withdrawal from court after a legal session in ancient China
withdrawal
Metaphor for giving up, losing heart, or backing out of a commitment mid-way; often used in the phrase 打退堂鼓 dǎ​tuì​táng​gǔ

Frequency

Written text
0.288 per million

Cross-References

Synonym

Sources

Frequency data
BCC Corpus (BLCU)