落水狗上岸
luò​shuǐ​gǒu​shàng'àn

shaking like a dog out of water

  • created sense approved 落水狗上岸 · luò​shuǐ​gǒu​shàng'àn · shaking like a dog out of water — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    落水狗上岸

    luò​shuǐ​gǒu​shàng'àn

    shaking like a dog out of water

    (xiehouyu) like a dog that fell into the water and just climbed out, shaking its body to dry off; used to describe someone shivering uncontrollably (e.g., from cold or fear). The pun relies on "qióng dǒu" (literally: shaking incessantly or miserably)

    落水 (literal) → 落水 · luò​shuǐ · to fall into the water 狗 (literal) → 狗 · gǒu · dog 上岸 (literal) → 上岸 · shàng'àn · to go ashore

    Changed: simplified, traditional, gloss, definition, pinyin, variant pinyin, variants, separable parts, decomposition

    created sense