máy chém

Definition

1. Noun:
   • Guillotine: A machine historically used for carrying out executions by beheading. It consists of a heavy blade that drops between two tall upright posts.
   • (Slang) Rip-off merchant / Extortionist: A person, typically a seller or vendor, who charges excessively high or unfair prices.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Guillotine):
  • Máy chém được sử dụng rộng rãi ở Pháp trong thời kỳ Cách mạng. (The guillotine was widely used in France during the Revolution.)
• Noun (Slang: Rip-off merchant):
  • Đừng mua ở đó, ông chủ là một tay máy chém nổi tiếng. (Don't buy there; the owner is a notorious rip-off merchant.)

Advanced Usage

• The term can be used metaphorically to describe any system, process, or person that cuts something off decisively or mercilessly, such as in corporate downsizing ("a guillotine of jobs") or severe budget cuts.

Variants and Related Words

• Đoạn đầu đài (n): Scaffold, execution platform. This is a more general term for the site of an execution.
• Chém (v): To chop, to slash. This is the verb from which "máy chém" is derived, literally meaning "chopping machine."

Synonyms

• Guillotine: Execution device, beheader.
• Rip-off merchant: Extortionist, profiteer, highway robber (figurative).

Related Idioms

• Lên máy chém: To be sent to the guillotine; to face execution. This can be used literally or figuratively for facing severe punishment or termination.
  • Dự án thất bại có thể khiến giám đốc lên máy chém. (The project's failure could send the director to the guillotine.)
• Giá chém (slang): To charge an exorbitant or "cut-throat" price.
  • Anh ta bị chém 500 nghìn cho một bát phở. (He was charged a cut-throat price of 500,000 dong for a bowl of pho.)