Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?

A rhetorical question referring to an excessive amount of force that has been applied to achieve something minor, unimportant, or insignificant. The line is a quotation from Alexander Pope's poem "Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot." To "break upon a wheel" refers to a mode of torture, in which a victim has their bones broken while strapped to a large wheel. The government's use of drone strikes and artillery bombing on the town to wipe out a tiny faction of rebels is totally unjustifiable—who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?

词组	Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?
释义	Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel? Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel? A rhetorical question referring to an excessive amount of force that has been applied to achieve something minor, unimportant, or insignificant. The line is a quotation from Alexander Pope's poem "Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot." To "break upon a wheel" refers to a mode of torture, in which a victim has their bones broken while strapped to a large wheel. The government's use of drone strikes and artillery bombing on the town to wipe out a tiny faction of rebels is totally unjustifiable—who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel? See also: break, butterfly, upon, who Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. See also: be breaking a butterfly on a wheel break a butterfly on a wheel make (something) out of nothing make out of nothing mere trifle back street be nothing to (one) be/mean nothing to somebody fig, not care/give/worth a
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