1 to cut down

2 to fell

3 to dispatch an expedition against

4 to attack

5 to boast

6 Taiwan pr. [fā]

1 old variant of 操[cāo]

1 to work

2 to operate

3 to manipulate

1 lousy

2 rotten

1 Cao Cao (155-220), famous statesman and general at the end of Han, noted poet and calligrapher, later warlord, founder and first king of Cao Wei 曹魏, father of Emperor Cao Pi 曹丕

2 the main villain of novel the Romance of Three Kingdoms 三國演義|三国演义

1 not trying to avoid the battle-ax (idiom)

2 not afraid of dying in combat

3 not afraid of being executed

1 to obtain safe passage to conquer the State of Guo

2 to borrow the resources of an ally to attack a common enemy (idiom)

1 knife, saw, ax and hatchet (idiom); facing torture and execution

1 war on all sides (idiom); fighting from all four quarters

1 to condemn in speech and in writing (idiom)

2 to denounce by word and pen