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Glite Dictionary
to make a pig's ear of

to make a pig's ear of

1 9.3
Do something very badly and spoil how it turns out
  • idiom
  • UK
translation icon : meter la pata
  • If you continue to make a pig's ear of your assignments, you will not pass the course.

Examples

  • She made a pig's ear of the presentation by forgetting all her notes.

  • You're makin' a pig's ear of that job,

    Cold Mountain (2003)

  • - I'm trying... ...to be a better man, Bridge, so that the next time a better woman comes along, I won't make a pig's ear of it.

    Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)

  • When he tried to fix the computer, he really made a pig's ear of it.

Synonyms

to screw up
vsto make a pig's ear of
  • Informal
641 6.3

To make a mistake that ruins what you are doing

is more extreme, meaning complete and utter failure
to mess up
vsto make a pig's ear of
  • Informal
597 2.8

To make a mistake that causes a problem

is more extreme and implies total ruin
to fuck it up
vsto make a pig's ear of
  • Offensive
37 9.9

To do something badly and ruin how it turns out

is similar in severity but less coarse in tone
to muck up
vsto make a pig's ear of
  • Informal
5 7.6

To ruin something by making mistakes or doing it badly

is more severe, suggesting a complete mess rather than a simple error
to botch up
vsto make a pig's ear of
  • Informal
2 6.7

Do a job badly and make a mess of it

is more absolute, indicating total failure rather than mere clumsiness
to bollocks up
vsto make a pig's ear of
  • Offensive
1 9.9

To do something so badly that it fails

is more absolute, stressing a complete mess rather than poor handling
to bollocks
vsto make a pig's ear of
  • Offensive
9.9

To spoil or ruin something by making a careless mistake

is the stronger idiom that stresses total and obvious failure

Antonyms

to succeed
846 2.0

To reach a goal after trying hard

to do well
520 1.2

Be successful or have good results in something

How Badly

to ruin
∞ 2.0
to make a pig's ear of
  • UK
1 9.3
to botch
63 6.0
to mess up
  • Informal
597 2.8

Surface Forms

make a pig's ear of infinitive
made a pig's ear of past
made a pig's ear of past participle
making a pig's ear of present participle
makes a pig's ear of third person singular

Morphology

make + a + pig's + ear + of

The phrase 'make a pig's ear of' uses a culture-specific metaphor (a pig's ear) whose literal parts ('make', 'pig', 'ear', 'of') do not combine to suggest 'to do something very badly' in a predictable way. This is an idiomatic, colloquial expression whose overall meaning cannot be reliably inferred by a B1 learner who only knows the constituent words.

Etymology

Make a pig's ear of may come from the messy look of a pig's ear after it is cut or left in a rough shape. One popular story says that when someone ruined a job it looked twisted and ugly like a pig's ear, so the phrase now means 'to do something very badly'.