英语词汇“butterfly on a wheel”的英英意思、用法、释义、翻译、读音、例句、短语、词组-英语词典

to break a butterfly on a wheel and variants: to use unnecessary force in destroying something fragile. Hence also butterfly on a wheel: a weak or vulnerable person destroyed by, or at the mercy of, significantly more powerful people, institutions, or processes.Originally with reference to a wheel used as an instrument of torture (see wheel n. 2a and cf. to break on the wheel at break v. 7b).

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > destroy [verb (intransitive)] > use excessive force to destroy

to break a butterfly on a wheel1734

1734 A. Pope Epist. to Arbuthnot 15 Satire or Shame alas! can Paris feel? Who breaks a Butterfly upon a Wheel?

1788 Crit. Rev. Jan. 75 We never wish to break a butterfly on a wheel, and often praise where the severity of criticism might have checked the tender mercies which well-meant endeavours have drawn from our tribunal.

1809 Lit. Panorama Oct. 88 So very depraved is the Stage become, that to criticize a modern English Opera now is as silly an undertaking as to break a butterfly on the wheel.

1875 A. Trollope Way we live Now I. ix. 70 One doesn't want to break a butterfly on the wheel.

1921 Mod. Lang. Notes 36 182 Are we breaking this delicate butterfly unnecessarily upon the wheel, by over-complexity of conjecture?

1931 W. Holtby Poor Caroline vi. 213 I can't bear to see a woman in the dock—butterfly on the wheel.

1951 N. Annan Leslie Stephen 292 Why break a butterfly on the wheel of scholarship?

1990 W. Hussey Butterfly on a Wheel (transcribed from song, perf. ‘The Mission’) Love breaks the wings of a butterfly on a wheel.

2002 M. E. Abbott Street was Mine iii. 76 Marlowe is thus a butterfly on a wheel, spinning at the hands of brutish and gorgeous thugs.

2002 Times 12 Aug. (T2 section) 19/2 There were plenty of implausibilities in Ella and the Mothers, if you stopped and thought about it too much, but that would be to break a butterfly upon a wheel.

单词	butterfly on a wheel
释义	> as lemmas butterfly on a wheel to break a butterfly on a wheel and variants: to use unnecessary force in destroying something fragile. Hence also butterfly on a wheel: a weak or vulnerable person destroyed by, or at the mercy of, significantly more powerful people, institutions, or processes.Originally with reference to a wheel used as an instrument of torture (see wheel n. 2a and cf. to break on the wheel at break v. 7b). ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > destroy [verb (intransitive)] > use excessive force to destroy to break a butterfly on a wheel1734 1734 A. Pope Epist. to Arbuthnot 15 Satire or Shame alas! can Paris feel? Who breaks a Butterfly upon a Wheel? 1788 Crit. Rev. Jan. 75 We never wish to break a butterfly on a wheel, and often praise where the severity of criticism might have checked the tender mercies which well-meant endeavours have drawn from our tribunal. 1809 Lit. Panorama Oct. 88 So very depraved is the Stage become, that to criticize a modern English Opera now is as silly an undertaking as to break a butterfly on the wheel. 1875 A. Trollope Way we live Now I. ix. 70 One doesn't want to break a butterfly on the wheel. 1921 Mod. Lang. Notes 36 182 Are we breaking this delicate butterfly unnecessarily upon the wheel, by over-complexity of conjecture? 1931 W. Holtby Poor Caroline vi. 213 I can't bear to see a woman in the dock—butterfly on the wheel. 1951 N. Annan Leslie Stephen 292 Why break a butterfly on the wheel of scholarship? 1990 W. Hussey Butterfly on a Wheel (transcribed from song, perf. ‘The Mission’) Love breaks the wings of a butterfly on a wheel. 2002 M. E. Abbott Street was Mine iii. 76 Marlowe is thus a butterfly on a wheel, spinning at the hands of brutish and gorgeous thugs. 2002 Times 12 Aug. (T2 section) 19/2 There were plenty of implausibilities in Ella and the Mothers, if you stopped and thought about it too much, but that would be to break a butterfly upon a wheel. extracted from butterflyn. < as lemmas
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