A bird frightened by the sound of a bowstring
Someone who has been been frightened in the past and therefore is easily startled now
Negative
强烈地震后，大家都成了惊弓之鸟，稍有震动，就争先恐后地向外逃 | Qiángliè dìzhèn hòu, dàjiā dōu chéngle jīnggōngzhīniǎo, shāo yǒu zhèndòng, jiù zhēngxiānkǒnghòu de xiàng wài táo
After the strong earthquake, everyone became very jumpy, and at the slightest sign of shaking, they would fight to get outside
[Source]
警方已全面发布追缉令，罪犯者已成为惊弓之鸟，惶惶难安 | Jǐngfāng yǐ quánmiàn fābù zhuījīlìng, zuìfàn zhě yǐ chéngwéi jīnggōngzhīniǎo, huánghuáng nán ān
The police had already issued a warrant, causing the criminals to become extremely panicked
[Source]
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《战国策》(Zhàn Gúo Cè, Strategies of the Warring States), a work which chronicled the Warring States Period (475 - 220 BC)
In the kingdom of 魏国 (Wèi Guó, 407 - 225 BC), there was an archer named 更盈 (Gèng Yíng) who was second to none. One day, while 更盈 and the king of 魏国 were talking about the art of archery, a hawk suddenly flew across the sky. 更盈 immediately lifted his bow, but instead of firing an arrow, he just plucked at the string. When the sound of the bowstring reverberated all around them, the hawk plummeted to the ground.
The king was astounded and asked how the archer had managed such a feat. 更盈 explained, "The bird was flying very low, it wasn't moving that fast, and its cry was weak. I suspected that it had an unhealed injury from an arrow and had been separated from its flock. So, when it heard the sound of my bowstring, it panicked and used all its strength to flee. That re-opened the injury and caused him to fall."