to make your bed and lie in it
- idiom
- Informal
:
arreglártelas con lo que hiciste
- You knew this would happen, so now you have to make your bed and lie in it.
Examples
-
She refused help earlier, so she'll just have to make her bed and lie in it now.
-
If you don't study, you'll have to make your bed and lie in it later.
-
He made poor decisions at work and must make his bed and lie in it.
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You must make your bed and lie in it now!
-
After skipping class all semester, John realized he had to make his bed and lie in it by accepting the failing grade.
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She chose to ignore the warning signs, so now she must make her bed and lie in it with the consequences.
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When he decided to spend all his savings on video games, he knew he would eventually make his bed and lie in it.
Synonyms
∞
3.5
To tolerate an unpleasant situation without complaining
193
3.3
To admit you caused a problem and accept the blame
76
4.1
To accept a difficult or unpleasant situation
52
5.1
Accept an unpleasant situation you cannot change
27
5.8
To accept something unpleasant that you cannot change
19
4.5
Accept and deal with unpleasant results or criticism for something you did
16
3.7
Accept real facts even when they are painful
9
7.7
Accept the bad result of something you did
8
7.2
To accept unfair treatment or criticism without complaining
5
6.8
To accept an unpleasant situation without complaining
5
6.1
Accept punishment or a bad result without complaining
3
8.8
Accept something unpleasant without complaining
2
8.1
To accept unpleasant results and sometimes punishment for something you did
Accept something as it is even if you do not like it
Antonyms
How Responsible
Surface Forms
Morphology
make + your + bed + and + lie + in + it
Although the phrase is built from fully transparent lexical items (make, bed, lie, in, it), the intended proverb-like meaning 'accept the consequences of your actions' is a metaphorical inference rather than a direct compositional result; a B1 learner who knows the words is unlikely to deduce the idiomatic sense immediately. At the same time, the causal logic (you prepared your situation and must live with it) gives a recognisable mapping that learners can plausibly infer with some reasoning or cross-linguistic support, so the expression is not fully opaque.
Etymology
The saying make your bed and lie in it comes from a simple picture: you make a bed one way and later you must lie in that same bed. So the phrase means you must 'accept the consequences' of your choices.