📖 Meaning
This idiom describes someone who acts recklessly and without any restraint, as though they have escaped all bounds of law and authority. It conveys the image of a person running wild and doing whatever they please, completely beyond the reach of rules or consequences.
📜 Origin Story
No specific literary origin is documented for this idiom. Its imagery draws on two classical metaphors: escaping the bounds of heaven (脱天) and slipping through a legal net (漏网, echoing the well-known phrase 漏网之鱼, a fish that escaped the net). Together they evoke the picture of someone who has evaded every form of restraint and oversight, left free to act as they please.
💡 Example Usage
这帮人仗着有靠山，脱天漏网，欺压百姓无恶不作。
Relying on their powerful backers, this gang ran wild and oppressed the common people, committing every imaginable evil.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 脱天漏网
- Pinyin: tuō tiān lòu wǎng
- Literal Translation: escape heaven, slip through the net
- Category: Action
- Characters: 4