碰一鼻子灰

pèng yī bí zi huī

lit. to have one's nose rubbed in the dirt

fig. to meet with a sharp rebuff

碰

pèng

old variant of 碰[peng4]

一

yī

one

鼻

bí

nose

子

zi

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

灰

huī

ash