make a silk purse
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.
No manager can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear though.
From BBC • Nov. 12, 2022
“It follows the old adage that you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear,” Adams said.
From Washington Post • Nov. 11, 2021
It takes all sorts to make a silk purse but birds of a feather flock in your cap.
From The New Yorker • Sep. 2, 2019
If anybody can make a silk purse out of this Liverpool defence, it’s probably Rafa.
From The Guardian • Oct. 1, 2017
It was entirely due to the wretched soil they had to work upon; you cannot grow figs on thistles, nor can you make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
From The Life of a Celebrated Buccaneer A Page of Past History for the Use of the Children of To-day by Clynton, Richard
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.
