louse up

Idioms  

1. Spoil, ruin, bungle. For example, The bad weather loused up our plans, or Your change of mind really loused me up. This slangy expression originated in World War I, when infestation with lice was the common lot of soldiers in the trenches; its figurative use dates from the 1930s.

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Example Sentences

I didn’t want to louse up the photo opportunity because it was the only chance to get the picture we all wanted, Clinton and Assad.

From Washington Post • Jul. 27, 2018

And then there was the problem of extra innings, a threat that loomed over every game, threatening to louse up our often down-to-the-hour plan.

From Slate • Apr. 2, 2015

"You don't want to louse up the film rights."

From Time Magazine Archive

They came out emphatically against the monarchy, Germans, capitalism, Dutch society in general, and had a number of ingenious notions about how to louse up the official rites.

From Time Magazine Archive

“What do you mean, social-label judgments, and how can they possibly louse up the country?”

From Status Quo by Reynolds, Mack