鸟尽弓藏 niǎo jìn gōng cáng — to discard allies once their use is over; to put the bow away when the birds are gone

鸟尽弓藏
niǎo jìn gōng cáng

Characters: 鸟 · 尽 · 弓 · 藏

Definitions

  1. to discard allies once their use is over; to put the bow away when the birds are gone

More definitions

CC-CEDICT

  1. lit. the birds are over, the bow is put away (idiom)
  2. fig. to get rid of sb once he has served his purpose

ExtDict

  1. 鸟没有了，弓也就藏起来不用了。比喻事情成功之后，把曾经出过力的人一脚踢开。

Examples

  • 历代功臣常遭鸟尽弓藏的下场。

    Through the ages, meritorious ministers often met the fate of being discarded once their use was over.

  • 他担心鸟尽弓藏，功成之后主动请辞。

    Fearing he would be discarded after his usefulness ended, he resigned once the work was done.