make a hash of
make a hash of (something)
To ruin, bungle, or spoil something. I really made a hash of that project at work—I'm going to get fired for sure! I'm afraid the accounting department made a complete hash of these numbers. We'll need to tally the entire ledger again.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
make a hash of
Also, make a mess of. Ruin or spoil something, as in They've made a hash of their financial affairs, or She thought he'd make a mess of the garden. The first term, first recorded in 1833, uses hash in the sense of "a jumble of mangled fragments"; the variant, using mess in the sense of "a muddle" or "a state of confusion," was first recorded in 1862.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
make a hash of
make a mess of; bungle. informalHash comes from the French verb hacher meaning ‘chop up small’. A hash is a dish of cooked meat cut into small pieces and recooked with gravy; from this comes the derogatory sense of hash meaning ‘a jumble of incongruous elements; a mess’.
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
make a ˈmess/ˈhash of something/of doing something
(informal) do something very badly: We tried making some wine, but we made a mess of it (= it did not taste good). ♢ I made a complete hash of the whole exam.Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017