mend one's ways
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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.
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QUIZ YOURSELF ON “ITS” VS. “IT’S”!
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Question 1 of 8
On the farm, the feed for chicks is significantly different from the roosters’; ______ not even comparable.
Words nearby mend one's ways
mendicity, mending, Mendips, Mendocino, mend one's fences, mend one's ways, Mendota, Mendoza, Mendoza Line, Meneer, menel
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
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