关公面前耍大刀

lit. to wield the broadsword in the presence of Lord Guan (idiom) / fig. to make a fool of oneself by showing off in front of an expert

mountain pass / to close; to shut; to turn off / to confine; to lock (sb) up; to shut (sb in a room, a bird in a cage etc) / to concern; to involve

Lord Guan (i.e. 關羽|关羽[Guan1 Yu3])

public / collectively owned / common / international (e.g. high seas, metric system, calendar) / make public / fair / just / Duke, highest of five orders of nobility 五等爵位[wu3 deng3 jue2 wei4] / honorable (gentlemen) / father-in-law / male (animal)

face / side / surface / aspect / top / classifier for objects with flat surfaces such as drums, mirrors, flags etc

variant of 麵|面[mian4]

flour / noodles / (of food) soft (not crunchy) / (slang) (of a person) ineffectual / spineless

in front of / facing / (in the) presence (of)

front / forward / ahead / first / top (followed by a number) / future / ago / before / BC (e.g. 前293年) / former / formerly

surname Shua

to play with / to wield / to act (cool etc) / to display (a skill, one's temper etc)

see 大夫[dai4 fu5]

big; large; great / older (than another person) / eldest (as in 大姐[da4 jie3]) / greatly; freely; fully / (dialect) father / (dialect) uncle (father's brother)

broadsword / large knife / machete

knife / blade / single-edged sword / cutlass / CL:把[ba3] / (slang) dollar (loanword) / classifier for sets of one hundred sheets (of paper) / classifier for knife cuts or stabs