improve the occasion

English

Verb

improve the occasion (third-person singular simple present improves the occasion, present participle improving the occasion, simple past and past participle improved the occasion)

1. To point out a moral to be learned from some event that has just occurred.
   • 1880, The Penn Monthly, volume 11, page 784:

     Then he improved the occasion to give young Finland a lecture upon the impropriety of marrying for money.

2. (obsolete, slang) To celebrate with food or drink.
   • 1868, Malcolm Ronald Laing Meason, Turf Frauds and Turf Practices; or, Spiders and Flies, page 24:

     I told Jos. of my intentions, and he improved the occasion by eating four or five meals, and drinking at least a gallon of beer and a bottle of gin at my expense.

References

• John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary