"broken reed" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "broken"
      },
      "expansion": "broken",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "reed"
      },
      "expansion": "reed",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From broken + reed (with reference to quotation 1611, below).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "broken reeds",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "broken reed (plural broken reeds)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 543",
          "text": "Many of the big estates survived. Nor was the peasantry a broken reed in terms of demand for manufactured products.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 July 5, Simon Jenkins, The Guardian",
          "text": "A law on privacy would be cumbersome and hard to police, but as the Press Complaints Commission is a broken reed in this matter, each scandal makes it harder to stave off calls for legislation.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something or someone very fragile or unreliable."
      ],
      "id": "en-broken_reed-en-noun-UFptIP8C",
      "links": [
        [
          "fragile",
          "fragile"
        ],
        [
          "unreliable",
          "unreliable"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "unreliable person",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "onbetrouwbaar persoon"
        },
        {
          "code": "el",
          "lang": "Greek",
          "roman": "anaxiópistos voïthós",
          "sense": "unreliable person",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "αναξιόπιστος βοηθός"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "broken reed"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "broken"
      },
      "expansion": "broken",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "reed"
      },
      "expansion": "reed",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From broken + reed (with reference to quotation 1611, below).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "broken reeds",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "broken reed (plural broken reeds)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 543",
          "text": "Many of the big estates survived. Nor was the peasantry a broken reed in terms of demand for manufactured products.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 July 5, Simon Jenkins, The Guardian",
          "text": "A law on privacy would be cumbersome and hard to police, but as the Press Complaints Commission is a broken reed in this matter, each scandal makes it harder to stave off calls for legislation.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something or someone very fragile or unreliable."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "fragile",
          "fragile"
        ],
        [
          "unreliable",
          "unreliable"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "unreliable person",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "onbetrouwbaar persoon"
    },
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "roman": "anaxiópistos voïthós",
      "sense": "unreliable person",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "αναξιόπιστος βοηθός"
    }
  ],
  "word": "broken reed"
}