倒打一耙

倒打一耙

Literally means:

turn the rake over and hit someone

Actually means:

make groundless counter charge; recriminate

In Journey to the West one of the four famous ancient Chinese novels, Zhu Ba Jie (the pig-monster, one of the major characters) used rake as his weapon with which he often defeated his enemies by turning around and hit them.

The phrase figuratively means, when one is blamed or criticized for the mistakes he has made, instead of admitting his own mistakes, he blames them on those who criticized him, or that he makes groundless counter charges. Derogatory.

《西游记》说，猪八戒以钉耙为武器，常用回身打人一耙的办法战胜对手。

比喻对别人批评或指摘自己的错误时，不但不认错，还反咬了对方一口，或把责任推到对方身上，或指责或攻击对方。具有贬义色彩。