打退堂鼓 in English da3 tui4 tang2 gu3 Meaning

Meanings

• literally (word for word) to beat the return drum (idiomatic expression)
• metaphorically to give up
• to turn tail

Pinyin

da3 tui4 tang2 gu3

Literal

Literal explanation, with pronunciation and meaning of each character.

打da3dozen (loanword) 退tui4to retreat 堂tang2(main) hall 鼓gu3old variant of 鼓[gu3]