三顾茅庐
to make earnest and repeated requests to recruit someone
Frequency 1.8
Meanings
- lit. to make three visits to the thatched cottage (idiom) (allusion to an episode in Romance of the Three Kingdoms 三國演義|三国演义[San1guo2 Yan3yi4] in which Liu Bei 劉備|刘备[Liu2 Bei4] recruits Zhuge Liang 諸葛亮|诸葛亮[Zhu1ge3 Liang4] to his cause by visiting him three times)
- fig. to make earnest and repeated requests of sb