can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear
IdiomsExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Koeman will say you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear and that he is doing the very best he possibly can with what is available to him.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2021
My mother told me you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
From Reuters ● May 21, 2011
"The plan makes a wonderful scapegoat if the school can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear," says Principal Miriam Burton.
From Time Magazine Archive
Even an actor who has portrayed Moses can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
From Time Magazine Archive
"But it can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, Natty Bell,—nor yet a gentlemen out o' you or me—or Barnabas here."
From The Amateur Gentleman by Jeffery Farnol
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
