What does it mean to make an example?

There is only one idiom: to set an example for others.

Moral: Kill the chicken for the monkey. It is a metaphor to warn others by punishing one person. A monkey charmer bought a newly trained monkey. This monkey is very clever. He can dance as soon as he hears the drums and roll as soon as he hears the gongs, but he doesn't listen to the new master's command, so the master will make an example of him and kill him if he doesn't listen.

English expression: Kill the chicken to show the monkey.

Grammar: subject-predicate type; As predicate, attribute, object.

Source: Qing Li Garbo "Official Appearance": "As the saying goes; It is called' killing chickens and making an example'; Kill chickens; That monkey is naturally afraid. "

Example of idiom: I guessed that the emperor meant to make an example, but I was so anxious that I didn't say anything for a long time. (Yao Li Zicheng, Volume II, Chapter 21)

Extended data:

Once upon a time, a monkey juggler bought a disobedient monkey. The artist was very angry, so he went to the market and bought a rooster. The rooster was stunned. The artist took the opportunity to kill the rooster with a knife, and the monkey sitting on the side was frightened. From then on, as long as the artist said something or beat the drum, the monkey would unequivocally carry out the artist's instructions.

"To set an example to others" comes from this story. Punishing an irrelevant person to threaten another person can be said to be "setting an example for others".

Discrimination of idioms: to make an example of a chicken and "to make an example of a chicken"; They all mean "make an example of one". But killing chickens and scaring monkeys can warn many people; It can also be a person; The warning of "killing one as an example" must be a lot of people.

"Killing a chicken, for example" is to make an example of a chicken, and it is a metaphor to punish one as an example. In the eyes of playing with monkeys, the cost of killing chickens is much lower than that of killing monkeys, and chickens are much more useless than monkeys.

Chicken has always been a master of "show", and what "chicken flies dog jumps" and "chicken flies egg beats" always wins the table, so the killed chicken always turns "killed" into an extravagant blockbuster. The struggle of chicken feathers on the ground, the tragic situation of blood everywhere, crying for the grievances of the land. This effect is more than enough to scare monkeys. Monkeys naturally don't want to be beheaded, so they have to bow their heads and dare not expect anything.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Killing chickens and scaring monkeys