English

Noun

dog's dinner ‎(plural dogs' dinners)

1. (chiefly Britain, slang) A complete mess.
   • 1986, Nicolas Freeling, Cold Iron:

     The Polizei had made a dog's dinner of this. Vera would have done better, no doubt of it. It now remained to be seen whether the Law would do better.

   • 1997, Norma Harrs, Where Dreams Have Gone:

     She must look like a real dog's dinner. No wonder he'd been looking over her head to the girl who took the coats.

   • 2004, Julie Burchill, "Welcome to the world of the Stepford ****," Times Online, 6 March (retrieved 29 Nov 2010):

     Just think; without that Mrs Pankhurst and her wrecking crew jumping under racehorses (phwooar!) and chaining themselves to railings (kinky!), these young women would be out getting an education and respecting their own sexuality, not getting themselves up like dog’s dinners and being the passive playthings of men.

   • 2007, Mark Bland, Early Modern Manuscript and Printed Book Studies:

     The folio text is unevenly spaced (the compositor made a dog's dinner of setting the text), with three spaces closed up...

Synonyms

• (complete mess): dog's breakfast