"make a meal of" meaning in English

See make a meal of in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: En-au-make a meal of.ogg [Australia] Forms: makes a meal of [present, singular, third-person], making a meal of [participle, present], made a meal of [participle, past], made a meal of [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|make<,,made> a meal of}} make a meal of (third-person singular simple present makes a meal of, present participle making a meal of, simple past and past participle made a meal of)
  1. (idiomatic, transitive) To spend more time and energy on some task than it warrants; to make something overly complicated; to make a big thing out of. Tags: idiomatic, transitive Translations (spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant): 小题大作 (xiǎotídàzuò) (Chinese Mandarin), 杀鸡用牛刀 (Chinese Mandarin), nysvätä (Finnish), pipertää (Finnish), pakertaa (Finnish), faire tout un plat de (French), faire un plat de (French)
    Sense id: en-make_a_meal_of-en-verb-oNBabOG8 Disambiguation of 'spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant': 100 0
  2. To eat something as a meal. Synonyms: make a meal out of Translations (eat something as a meal): 用餐 (yòngcān) (Chinese Mandarin), nauttia ateriaksi (Finnish), ne faire qu’une bouchée (French), avaler tout rond (French), manger tout cru (French)
    Sense id: en-make_a_meal_of-en-verb-qZqBz7Pq Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 21 79 Disambiguation of 'eat something as a meal': 0 100

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for make a meal of meaning in English (5.0kB)

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "makes a meal of",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "making a meal of",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "made a meal of",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
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    },
    {
      "form": "made a meal of",
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  "head_templates": [
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      "name": "en-verb"
    }
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1997, Alison Aprhys, Careers in Publishing and Bookselling: How to Get the Job You Want, Hale & Iremonger, page 191",
          "text": "Some people can make a meal out of the simplest task. If you give it to a busy person, they don’t have time to muck around on the edges and worry about it — they’ll just do it.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "a. 2004, Kate Williams, Using Information for Decision Making, Second edition, Elsevier, published 2004, page 53",
          "text": "They both looked good – I would have been happy with either version. There was no point in making a meal of the decision, so I just picked up the one which was nearest to me on the desk and said, ‘We’ll go with this one.’",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Julia Gregson, East of the Sun, Simon and Schuster, published 2009",
          "text": "page 131: And if he preferred Viva, fine. She wasn't going to make a meal of it or even give them the satisfaction of a scene.\npage 524: Make it quick and painless, she'd told herself, don't make a meal of it.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010 November 3, Andrew Barker, “Morning Glory (review)”, in Variety",
          "text": "Ford's character is a bit one-note, and his gravelly intonation suggests a drunken poet more than a respected newsman, yet he makes a meal of the role all the same, and his pronunciation of the word \"frittata\" may well be the film's high point.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To spend more time and energy on some task than it warrants; to make something overly complicated; to make a big thing out of."
      ],
      "id": "en-make_a_meal_of-en-verb-oNBabOG8",
      "links": [
        [
          "time",
          "time"
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        [
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        [
          "warrant",
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        [
          "complicated",
          "complicated"
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        [
          "make a big thing out of",
          "make a big thing out of"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, transitive) To spend more time and energy on some task than it warrants; to make something overly complicated; to make a big thing out of."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "transitive"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "xiǎotídàzuò",
          "sense": "spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant",
          "word": "小题大作"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant",
          "word": "杀鸡用牛刀"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant",
          "word": "nysvätä"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant",
          "word": "pipertää"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant",
          "word": "pakertaa"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant",
          "word": "faire tout un plat de"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant",
          "word": "faire un plat de"
        }
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    },
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          "_dis": "21 79",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
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            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Don't walk near the tiger: it'll make a meal of you."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To eat something as a meal."
      ],
      "id": "en-make_a_meal_of-en-verb-qZqBz7Pq",
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          "eat",
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          "_dis1": "34 66",
          "word": "make a meal out of"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "yòngcān",
          "sense": "eat something as a meal",
          "word": "用餐"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "eat something as a meal",
          "word": "nauttia ateriaksi"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "eat something as a meal",
          "word": "ne faire qu’une bouchée"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "eat something as a meal",
          "word": "avaler tout rond"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "eat something as a meal",
          "word": "manger tout cru"
        }
      ]
    }
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/En-au-make_a_meal_of.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
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      "text": "Audio (AU)"
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  "word": "make a meal of"
}
{
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    "English lemmas",
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    "English terms with audio links",
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  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "makes a meal of",
      "tags": [
        "present",
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    },
    {
      "form": "making a meal of",
      "tags": [
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    },
    {
      "form": "made a meal of",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
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    },
    {
      "form": "made a meal of",
      "tags": [
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  "head_templates": [
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      },
      "expansion": "make a meal of (third-person singular simple present makes a meal of, present participle making a meal of, simple past and past participle made a meal of)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
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      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English transitive verbs"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1997, Alison Aprhys, Careers in Publishing and Bookselling: How to Get the Job You Want, Hale & Iremonger, page 191",
          "text": "Some people can make a meal out of the simplest task. If you give it to a busy person, they don’t have time to muck around on the edges and worry about it — they’ll just do it.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "a. 2004, Kate Williams, Using Information for Decision Making, Second edition, Elsevier, published 2004, page 53",
          "text": "They both looked good – I would have been happy with either version. There was no point in making a meal of the decision, so I just picked up the one which was nearest to me on the desk and said, ‘We’ll go with this one.’",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Julia Gregson, East of the Sun, Simon and Schuster, published 2009",
          "text": "page 131: And if he preferred Viva, fine. She wasn't going to make a meal of it or even give them the satisfaction of a scene.\npage 524: Make it quick and painless, she'd told herself, don't make a meal of it.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010 November 3, Andrew Barker, “Morning Glory (review)”, in Variety",
          "text": "Ford's character is a bit one-note, and his gravelly intonation suggests a drunken poet more than a respected newsman, yet he makes a meal of the role all the same, and his pronunciation of the word \"frittata\" may well be the film's high point.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To spend more time and energy on some task than it warrants; to make something overly complicated; to make a big thing out of."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "time",
          "time"
        ],
        [
          "energy",
          "energy"
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        [
          "warrant",
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        [
          "complicated",
          "complicated"
        ],
        [
          "make a big thing out of",
          "make a big thing out of"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, transitive) To spend more time and energy on some task than it warrants; to make something overly complicated; to make a big thing out of."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Don't walk near the tiger: it'll make a meal of you."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To eat something as a meal."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "eat",
          "eat"
        ]
      ]
    }
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  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-make a meal of.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/3e/En-au-make_a_meal_of.ogg/En-au-make_a_meal_of.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/En-au-make_a_meal_of.ogg",
      "tags": [
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  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "make a meal out of"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "xiǎotídàzuò",
      "sense": "spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant",
      "word": "小题大作"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant",
      "word": "杀鸡用牛刀"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant",
      "word": "nysvätä"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant",
      "word": "pipertää"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant",
      "word": "pakertaa"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant",
      "word": "faire tout un plat de"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant",
      "word": "faire un plat de"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "yòngcān",
      "sense": "eat something as a meal",
      "word": "用餐"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "eat something as a meal",
      "word": "nauttia ateriaksi"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "eat something as a meal",
      "word": "ne faire qu’une bouchée"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "eat something as a meal",
      "word": "avaler tout rond"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "eat something as a meal",
      "word": "manger tout cru"
    }
  ],
  "word": "make a meal of"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.