a dog's breakfast/dinner

a dog's breakfast

A mess. I really need to clean out my closet—it's starting to look like a dog's breakfast in there. I thought I could trust Jim to finish the business proposal, but he made a dog's breakfast of the whole thing. If you borrow my car, please don't let the kids make it into a dog's breakfast, OK? I don't want to be finding crumbs in there for the next six months.

a dog's dinner

A mess. I really need to clean out my closet—it's starting to look like a dog's dinner in there. I thought I could trust Jim to finish the business proposal, but he made a dog's dinner of the whole thing. If you borrow my car, please don't let the kids make it into a dog's dinner, OK? I don't want to be finding crumbs in there for the next six months.

a dog's breakfast

a dog's dinner

BRITISH

If you call something a dog's breakfast or a dog's dinner, you mean that it is badly organized or very untidy. He labelled the Government's plans `a complete dog's breakfast'. Now she's having to watch as those whom she grew up with in politics are in Cabinet and making a dog's breakfast of it. The whole place was a bit of a dog's dinner, really.

a dog's dinner (or breakfast)

a poor piece of work; a mess. British informal

The image is of a dog's meal of jumbled-up scraps.

2000 Independent He was rightly sacked because he had made such a dog's dinner of an important job.

a dog’s ˈbreakfast/ˈdinner

(British English, informal) a very untidy piece of work; a mess: Don’t ask Julie to help you with the decorating — she made a complete dog’s breakfast of painting the kitchen!