A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

make a bad break • make a clean break
make a bad break —(coll.) say or do smth. tactless or inap-
propriate: Belton felt that he had made a bad break and looked
around a little uneasily at the principal.
make a clean break —separate from a person that one has a
connection with: When I suggested a trial separation she said
I didn’t have the guts to make a clean break.
make a bag • make the bag
make a bag —
1
. (Hunting) kill a number of game on a shoot-
lower one’s ears
– 226 –

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ing expedition: I was quail-shooting and had made a bag of
about a dozen birds by the time I had reached the house. 2.
(of a pregnant animal) undergo enlargement of the udder:
Femme is dropping in her tummy now, and starting to make
a bag. Rainy is just very round and tight in her tummy, but
very little udder development started.
Note: 
The expression does not correlate in meaning with the
phrase make a bags of something—(Irish coll.) do smth. incom-
petently or inadequately; make a mess of smth.: If the new
Authority proposes to operate like that in the future, I predict
that it is going to make a bags of higher education.
make the bag —(Hunting) contribute most to the total of
game killed on a shooting expedition: Sir Allan is making the
bag. That is the third time he has wiped Sir Joseph’s eye.
make a bed • make one’s bed
make a bed —put a bed in order after it has been used; fit a
bed with sheets and blankets so that it is ready to sleep in: A
true nurse always knows how to make a bed, and always makes
it herself.
make one’s bed —
1
. = make a bed: I made my way back
upstairs, made my bed and sat down to read some more. 2.
suffer the consequences of one’s own actions (in allusion to the
saying “make one’s bed and lie in it”): I also find it hard to feel
sorry for Claudia because she has made her bed, so to speak.
See also: make down a bed / make up a bed.