exterminate grass and fowls -- make no discrimination but kill everybody; (to slaughter like) rooting out wild grass and killing beasts; like weeding out weeds and killing the birds without mercy; massacre to tally without discrimination

谓如刈割野草、搜捕禽兽似地予以歼灭。语出唐韩愈《送郑尚书序》：“至纷不可治，乃草薙而禽猕之，尽根株痛断乃止。”