:a limit or point that you reach when the results of your actions cannot be changed(无法走回头路的)界限,界线
Once you've crossed the Rubicon there's no going back.一旦破釜沉舟,就别无退路了。
◊ This word comes from the name of a stream that separated Gaul from Italy. In 49 B.C., Julius Caesar started a war by illegally marching his army across the Rubicon and into Italy.此词源自意大利与高卢的界河鲁比肯河。公元前49年,尤利乌斯·凯撒违规率军越过鲁比肯河进入意大利,发动了战争。
especially: one that when crossed commits a person irrevocably
Did you know?
In 49 B.C., Julius Caesar led his army to the banks of the Rubicon, a small river that marked the boundary between Italy and Gaul. Caesar knew Roman law forbade a general from leading his army out of the province to which he was assigned. By crossing the Rubicon, he would violate that law. "The die is cast," he said, wading in. That act of defiance sparked a three-year civil war that ultimately left Julius Caesar the undisputed ruler of the Roman world. It also inspired English speakers to adopt two popular sayings -crossing the Rubicon and the die is cast-centuries later. Rubicon has been used in English as the name of a significant figurative boundary since at least the early 1600s.
Word History
Etymology
Latin Rubicon-, Rubico, river of northern Italy forming part of the boundary between Cisalpine Gaul and Italy whose crossing by Julius Caesar in 49 b.c. was regarded by the Senate as an act of war