lit. to sound out the difficulties and retreat to avoid defeat (idiom) / fig. to back out of an awkward situation / to get out on finding out what it's really like
to return to old ways (a Confucian aspiration) / to turn back the clock / neoclassical school during Tang and Song associated with classical writing 古文 / retro (fashion style based on nostalgia, esp. for 1960s)
(finance) (of a fund manager, high-wealth individual etc) to make large trades (in stocks, futures etc) / (fashion, movies etc) (of an industry heavyweight) to make a play in the market
rivers and lakes / all corners of the country / remote areas to which hermits retreat / section of society operating independently of mainstream society, out of reach of the law / the milieu in which wuxia tales play out (cf. 武俠|武侠[wu3xia2]) / (in late imperial times) world of traveling merchants, itinerant doctors, fortune tellers etc / demimonde / (in modern times) triads / secret gangster societies / underworld
(indicating that sth turns out just the opposite of what one would wish) unfortunately / as it happened / (indicating that sth is the opposite of what would be normal or reasonable) stubbornly / contrarily / against reason / (indicating that sb or a group is singled out) precisely / only / of all people
(of a batter) to be put out (in baseball) / to be dismissed (in cricket) / (of a player or team) to be eliminated from a competition / (fig.) to be weeded out / to get the chop (in a competitive environment)
half dead (of torment, hunger, tiredness etc) / (tired) to death / (terrified) out of one's wits / (beaten) to within an inch of one's life / (knock) the daylights out of sb
(of food) to be taken out of the steamer / (fig.) (often used with 紛紛|纷纷[fen1 fen1]) (of products, information etc) to appear / to emerge / to come out / (fig.) to dump / to inundate the market
to open ballot boxes / to count votes / to make out a voucher or invoice etc / to write out a receipt
The four tones
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