what's to be done

ripe; mature / thoroughly cooked; done / familiar; acquainted / experienced; skilled / (of sleep etc) deep; profound / also pr. [shou2]

to get a haircut; to have one's hair done / to cut (sb's) hair; to give (sb) a haircut

finally / in the end / when all is said and done / after all / to the end / to the last

to go to the bottom of a matter / after all / when all is said and done / (in an interrogative sentence) finally / outcome / result

(to be done) by (a certain date) / lasting (a certain time)

after all / all in all / when all is said and done / in the final analysis

to be finished / to be done for / ruined / gone to the dogs / oh no

to get to the intended location / to be in place / to be in position / precise / well (done)

(coll.) to be done for

to rinse / to trick / to fool sb / to cook by dipping finely sliced ingredients briefly in boiling water or soup (generally done at the dining table)

service (work done for money) / services (as in "goods and services")

not yet (done) / pending

in the end / after all is said and done

fine work / carefully and neatly done

(haven't done sth) for a long time / a long time since we last met

to do what needs to be done, without delay

impossible / can't be done / no can do / unable to accomplish

slightly cold / cool / (neologism) (slang) to be done for / about to be obliterated / (of a place or a person) desolate

to get sth done once and for all

to be done / to be ready / that's enough! / that will do!

easy to grasp but difficult to put into practice (idiom) / easier said than done

to do poorly done work over again / (Guangdong dialect) to go to work

lit. with money, you can get a devil to turn a millstone (idiom) / fig. with money, you can get anything done; money talks

modal particle indicating lack of enthusiasm / modal particle indicating that things should only or can only be done a certain way

lit. cannot be done in one day (idiom) / fig. will take much time and effort to accomplish

to dispose of a matter / to be done with it

to accomplish / to get sth done

a blitzkrieg strategy (idiom) / to resolve sth in the shortest time possible / to get sth done quickly

to show off one's cleverness / (of sb who has received beneficial treatment) to profess to have been hard done by

lit. the raw rice is now cooked (idiom); fig. it is done and can't be changed / It's too late to change anything now. / also written 生米煮成熟飯｜生米煮成熟饭

to turn a hand over / to put one's hand behind one's back / fig. easily done

easier said than done (idiom)

taking everything into account (idiom) / when all is said and done

many things waiting to be done (idiom) / a thousand things to do

(idiom) nothing can be done to remedy the situation; beyond recovery

sb who gets things done / doer

nine divide by nine is one (abacus rule) / when all is said and done

lit. ninety li is merely a half of a hundred li journey (idiom) / fig. the closer one is to completing a task, the tougher it gets / a task is not done until it's done

half-cooked / (fig.) not completely done, solved, developed etc / Taiwan pr. [jia4 sheng5]

how can this be? / what's to be done? / what an awful mess!

to get things done relying on others (idiom); with a little help from his friends

to praise / well done, bravo!

to work against the clock / to hurry with work to get it done in time

half-cooked rice / (fig.) half-finished job that is difficult to complete because it was not done properly in the first instance / Taiwan pr. [jia4 sheng5 fan4]

to work industriously / to get things done

the rice is cooked / what's done is done / it's too late to change anything now (idiom)

lit. to kill the donkey when the grinding is done (idiom) / fig. to get rid of sb once he has ceased to be useful

spilt water is difficult to retrieve (idiom) / it's no use crying over spilt milk / what's done is done and can't be reversed / the damage is done / once divorced, there's no reuniting

many things waiting to be done (idiom) / a thousand things to do

if this can be done

to get there in one step (idiom); easily done / success at a stroke / to get results overnight

lit. the timber has been turned into a boat already (idiom) / fig. what is done cannot be undone

lit. to blow out the lamp and put out the candle (idiom) / fig. to die / to bite the dust / to be over and done with

to refuse to admit (what one has done) / to disavow / to renege

(literary) effort; trouble; pains (to get sth done) / (literary) frightened; terrified

lit. the rice has already been cooked (idiom) / fig. what is done cannot be undone

to get there in one step (idiom); easily done / success at a stroke / to get results overnight

to take care of (a matter); to get (a task) done; to handle (a project) expeditiously

ultimately / in the final analysis / after all / when all is said and done

if you want sth done well, do it yourself (idiom)

a thousand things remain to be done (idiom) / numerous tasks remain to be undertaken

to issue a directive / to instruct (that sth be done)

there has never been and never will be another person like this (idiom) / never done before and unlikely to be matched in the future / peerless

without rules, nothing can be done (idiom); one must follow some rules

lit. to get there in one step (idiom) / fig. easily done

without rules, nothing can be done (idiom, from Mencius); one must follow some rules

to die / to be done with this world

thoroughly cooked / well done (of steak)

job paid according to the amount of work done / contract work

may be done once and once only; just this once

(maxim) a mere "thank you" is an insufficient response to a huge favor / (expression of gratitude) words cannot express my appreciation for what you have done

wedding photos (done in studio, kit and caboodle taken care of by the studio)

(usu. after 就) (having done such-and-such) everything is now fine; that's the end of the matter; (one is) all set

What you don't want done to you, don't do to others. (idiom, from the Confucian analects) / Do as you would be done by. / Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you.

to have benefited from sth but pretend otherwise / to claim to be hard done by, even though one has benefited

(of a comedian) to seize on something sb has just said or done to make an ad lib joke

without rules, how can anything be done (idiom); one must follow some rules

there is nothing to be done / one can't do anything about it

(in elections for village committees in the PRC since the 1990s) unrestricted nomination, a type of election where 1. everyone in the community is eligible to nominate somebody 2. voting is done by writing the name of one's nominee on the ballot, and 3. one's nominee can be anyone in the community (Nominees who receive the highest number of votes may be thereby elected or, more often, presented as the candidates in a further round of voting.) / (in other contexts) selection of the best contender in a process open to all comers / (in the entertainment industry) open audition

to strive to get sth done while the timing is right

sb who pulls strings to get things done / wirepuller / go-between / matchmaker

abbr. for 生米煮成熟飯｜生米煮成熟饭, lit. the raw rice is now cooked (idiom); fig. it is done and can't be changed / It's too late to change anything now.

lit. it's all very well to talk, but getting things done is another matter (idiom) / fig. to be an armchair expert; to blabber on

first case / first instance / first time (sth is done)

(of an activity) off-line (not done over the Internet)

to do sth after the time it should have been done / to do sth to make up for not having done it before / to reapply for (a lost document, card etc)

when all is said and done / at the end of the day

(idiom) no sooner said than done / before you know it

(coll.) (of an actor with a bit part) to receive a boxed meal when one's job is done (phrase used e.g. by movie viewers when a character dies)

(Beijing dialect) done; finished; complete