be breaking a butterfly on a wheel

To be applying an excessive amount of force to achieve something minor, unimportant, or insignificant. The phrase appears in the rhetorical question, "Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?" The line is a quotation from Alexander Pope's poem "Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot." To "break upon a wheel" refers to a form of torture in which the victim has their bones broken while strapped to a large wheel. Primarily heard in UK. The government's use of drone strikes and artillery bombing on the town to wipe out a tiny faction of rebels is totally unjustifiable—they're breaking a butterfly upon a wheel.

See also: breaking, butterfly, on, wheel

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

be breaking a butterfly on a wheel

BRITISH, LITERARY

If you say that someone is breaking a butterfly on a wheel, you mean that they are using far more force than is necessary to do something. The Huglets have had their ideology combed over, examined, misinterpreted and rewritten. Talk about breaking a butterfly on a wheel. Note: This is a quotation from `Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot' (1735) by Alexander Pope. In the past, the wheel was an instrument of torture. A person was tied to it and then their arms and legs were broken or they were beaten to death. Compare with a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

See also: breaking, butterfly, on, wheel

Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

See also:

break a butterfly on a wheel
Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?
make (something) out of nothing
make out of nothing
mere trifle
back street
be nothing to (one)
be/mean nothing to somebody
be not worth a fig

词组	be breaking a butterfly on a wheel
释义	be breaking a butterfly on a wheel be breaking a butterfly on a wheel To be applying an excessive amount of force to achieve something minor, unimportant, or insignificant. The phrase appears in the rhetorical question, "Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?" The line is a quotation from Alexander Pope's poem "Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot." To "break upon a wheel" refers to a form of torture in which the victim has their bones broken while strapped to a large wheel. Primarily heard in UK. The government's use of drone strikes and artillery bombing on the town to wipe out a tiny faction of rebels is totally unjustifiable—they're breaking a butterfly upon a wheel. See also: breaking, butterfly, on, wheel Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. be breaking a butterfly on a wheel BRITISH, LITERARY If you say that someone is breaking a butterfly on a wheel, you mean that they are using far more force than is necessary to do something. The Huglets have had their ideology combed over, examined, misinterpreted and rewritten. Talk about breaking a butterfly on a wheel. Note: This is a quotation from `Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot' (1735) by Alexander Pope. In the past, the wheel was an instrument of torture. A person was tied to it and then their arms and legs were broken or they were beaten to death. Compare with a sledgehammer to crack a nut. See also: breaking, butterfly, on, wheel Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. See also: break a butterfly on a wheel Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel? make (something) out of nothing make out of nothing mere trifle back street be nothing to (one) be/mean nothing to somebody be not worth a fig
随便看	more Catholic than the Pope (himself) more cry than wool more dead than alive more fool more fool (one) more fool you, them, etc. more fun than a barrel of monkeys more haste, less speed more holes than Swiss cheese more in sorrow than in anger more is less more kicks than halfpence more like more like it more like (something) more.../more often than somebody has had hot dinners more often than not more or less more power to somebody's elbow more power to someone more power to (someone or something) More power to you! more power to you/him/them more power to your elbow more power to your elbow!