按兵不动 meaning in English
halt the troops and wait; keep [remain] quiet; be on the alert, but make no move; bide one's time; hold one's troops where they are; hold the dogs of war in leash; keep an army back from battle; keep the troops immobilized; keep the troops in readiness, but do not send them into action; make no move; not to throw the troops into battle; remain inactive; rest one's men for a time; station the troops (and wait for a right time to strike); stop the advance of an army; take no action; the army was halted and did not march.: 按兵不动, 等待时机 not to move till the right moment; halt the troops and wait; keep quiet for waiting for a good chance; station one's troops and wait for the right moment; hold in check the pugnacity of our men until such a time as could be to our better advantage to strike; hold one's troops temporarily in leash for more effective action later; 红军按兵不动, 伺机发动反击。 the red army bided their time to launch a counterattack
Examples
- Neither silence nor inaction is necessary .
即不要保持沉默也不能按兵不动。 - Pablo has rotted us here with inaction .
巴勃罗老是按兵不动，把我们拖烂啦。 - The red army bided their time to launch a counterattack .
红军按兵不动，伺机发动反击。 - All we have to do is to sit tight and see which way they are going to jump .
我们所需要做的是，按兵不动，看看他们采取什么步骤。 - The old pattern of delay and inactivity continued to plague our handling of watergate .
我们对水门事件的处理继续犯拖延和按兵不动的老毛病。