垂头丧气
- Literal
- hanging the head, losing the spirit
- Figurative
- Crestfallen and dejected after a failure or bad news; not mere tiredness or listlessness, but the look of someone a setback has knocked the spirit out of.
Where does 垂头丧气 come from?
The phrase is found in 《送穷文》, a satirical piece by Han Yu, the Tang-dynasty prose writer. He tells how he prepares a cart and a boat to send off the spirits of poverty that dog him, but they answer back and defend their place at his side. In the end the host, head hanging and dejected, thanks them, burns the cart and the boat, and invites them to take the seat of honor. The idiom comes from that scene. Today it describes someone who is crushed after a failure, a defeat, or bad news.
Source (出处): 韩愈《送穷文》
How is 垂头丧气 used? Two examples
- 看他垂头丧气地进门，我就知道考试没考好。
When I saw him trudge in, head down and crestfallen, I knew the exam had gone badly.
- 项目被客户否了，整个团队垂头丧气的，一下午没人说话。
The client turned down the project, and the whole team was so dejected that nobody said a word all afternoon.
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