mend one's ways
Improve one's behavior, as in Threatened with suspension, Jerry promised to mend his ways. This expression, transferring a repair of clothes to one of character, was first recorded in 1868, but 150 or so years earlier it had appeared as mend one's manners.
Words nearby mend one's ways
mencius, mencken, mencken, h. l., mend, mend one's fences, mend one's ways, mendacious, mendacity, mende, mendel, mendel's first law
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.