越俎代庖

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Chinese

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to exceed; to climb over; to surpass
to exceed; to climb over; to surpass; the more ... the more
 
a stand for food at sacrifice to do others' job for them; to act in the place of others
simp. and trad.
(越俎代庖)
代庖
Literally: “(the priest) leave his cups and takes the place of the cook”.

Etymology

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From Zhuangzi:

庖人治庖尸祝 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
庖人治庖尸祝 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
From: Zhuangzi, circa 3rd – 2nd centuries BCE
Páorén suī bù zhìpáo, shīzhù bù yuè zūn ér dài zhī yǐ. [Pinyin]
Though the cook were not attending to his kitchen, the representative of the dead and the officer of prayer would not leave their cups and stands to take his place.

Pronunciation

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Idiom

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越俎代庖

  1. to overstep one's bounds and meddle in other's affairs