- make big investment for small returns; employ pearls to strike birds; get sth. at too dear a cost; give much to get little; shoot sparrows [a bird] with pearls; the game is not worth the candle
- 以: use; take
- 珠: pearl
- 弹: shoot; catapult
- 雀: sparrow
- 明珠弹雀: shoot a sparrow with bright pearls --pay too dear for one's whistle; gains cannot offset losses; lose much to get sth. trivial; not pay to gain sth. of little value at the loss of sth. valuable; shoot birds with [luminary] pearls -- the loss outweighs the gain
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