一棍子打死

yī gùn zi dǎ sǐ

to deal a single fatal blow

(fig.) to totally repudiate sb because of a minor error

one

gùn

stick; rod; truncheon

zi

noun suffix, as in 椅子[yi3 zi5] "chair"

a semantically light, transitive verb that is combined with various grammatical objects to form compound verbs and verb-object phrases with a diverse range of meanings (e.g. 打傘|打伞[da3 san3] "to hold an umbrella", 打電話|打电话[da3 dian4 hua4] "to make a phone call", 打針|打针[da3 zhen1] "to get an injection", 打手套[da3 shou3 tao4] "to knit gloves", 打氣|打气[da3 qi4] "to inflate")

to die