rack one 's brains for ingenious devices

rack one 's brains for ingenious devices

Chinese idiom, Pinyin is Qi ǎ ol ì m í ngs è, which means to change some names to achieve some improper purpose. It comes from the portrait of the three senior officials written by Li Zhi of Ming Dynasty.

Idioms and allusions

[source] Li Zhi of the Ming Dynasty wrote in a discussion on the statues of the three magistrates: "I am not like the first-class craftsmen and monks in the world, who are clever in their fame and wealth."

Discrimination of words

Use as predicate or attribute; blackmail