rob Peter to pay Paul

短语

剜肉补疮

发音

AU

词形变化

robbed Peter to pay Paul robbing Peter to pay Paul robs Peter to pay Paul 三单 robs Peter to pay Paul robbing Peter to pay Paul 现在分词 robbed Peter to pay Paul 过去式 robbed Peter to pay Paul 过去分词

别名

borrow from Peter to pay Paul

释义与例句

v.
  1. 1.

    To use resources that legitimately belong to or are needed by one party in order to satisfy a legitimate need of another party, especially within the same organization or group; to solve a problem in a way that makes another problem worse, producing no net gain.

    拆东墙，补西墙

    补西墙

    习语

    1865, Henry David Thoreau, Cape Cod, Chapter VIII. "The Highland Light", page 140. Perhaps what the Ocean takes from one part of the Cape it gives to another,—robs Peter to pay Paul.

词源

Unknown. Sometimes claimed to refer to Church taxes paid to Westminster Abbey (originally called Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster) that were sent to repair St. Paul's Cathedral in the mid 1500s, though records exist of the phrase since about 1450.

来源：wiktionary