can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear
Be unable to turn something ugly or inferior into something attractive or of value, as in No matter how expensive his clothes, he still looks sloppy—you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. This expression was already a proverb in the mid-1500s.
QUIZZES
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Do you remember all the words from last week, September 21–27, 2020? Then this quiz should be butyraceous.
Question 1 of 7
What does “yare” mean?
Words nearby can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear
cantina, canting, canting arms, cantle, cantling, can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, can't make head or tail of, canto, canto fermo, canton, Canton crepe
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.