jué​shì​qiú​shǔ

to dig through a house to catch a rat

Senses

掘室求鼠 jué​shì​qiú​shǔ to dig through a house to catch a rat

to dig through the walls of a house to find a rat; a metaphor for suffering a large loss in pursuit of a small gain or losing more than one gains

References

synonym 掘室求鼠/掘室求鼠 因小失大/因小失大