📖 Meaning
The Big Dipper has turned and the Shen constellation lies low across the sky, marking the hours just before dawn. It describes the deep of night giving way to first light, often used to convey working or staying awake until the very edge of morning.
📜 Origin Story
The imagery comes from Cao Cao of the Wei state in the Three Kingdoms period, whose poem "Shan Zai Xing" contains the line "The moon has set, the Shen constellation lies transverse, and the handle of the Big Dipper stretches across the sky." The "History of Song" records a musical verse echoing the same scene, and the Song dynasty poet Su Shi later wrote in "Crossing the Sea on the Twentieth Night of the Sixth Month" that the Shen constellation and the Big Dipper signaled the approach of the third watch, fixing the phrase as a lyric emblem of the pre-dawn sky.
💡 Example Usage
夜深人静，参横斗转，他才拖着疲惫的身躯回到家中。
In the dead of night, with the constellations wheeling toward dawn, he finally dragged his exhausted body back home.
🏷️ Category
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➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 参横斗转
- Pinyin: shēn héng dǒu zhuǎn
- Literal Translation: Shen constellation lies transverse, the Big Dipper turns
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4