make a meal of

English

Alternative forms

• make a meal out of

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

make a meal of (third-person singular simple present makes a meal of, present participle making a meal of, simple past and past participle made a meal of)

1. (idiomatic, transitive) To spend more time and energy on some task than it warrants; to make something overly complicated; to make a big thing out of.
   • 1997, Alison Aprhys, Careers in Publishing and Bookselling: How to Get the Job You Want‎^[1], Hale & Iremonger, →ISBN, page 191:

     Some people can make a meal out of the simplest task. If you give it to a busy person, they don’t have time to muck around on the edges and worry about it — they’ll just do it.

   • a. 2004, Kate Williams, Using Information for Decision Making, Second edition, Elsevier, published 2004, →ISBN, page 53:

     They both looked good – I would have been happy with either version. There was no point in making a meal of the decision, so I just picked up the one which was nearest to me on the desk and said, ‘We’ll go with this one.’

   • 2008, Julia Gregson, East of the Sun, Simon and Schuster, published 2009, →ISBN:

     page 131: And if he preferred Viva, fine. She wasn't going to make a meal of it or even give them the satisfaction of a scene.
     page 524: Make it quick and painless, she'd told herself, don't make a meal of it.

   • 2010 November 3, Andrew Barker, “Morning Glory (review)”, in Variety:

     Ford's character is a bit one-note, and his gravelly intonation suggests a drunken poet more than a respected newsman, yet he makes a meal of the role all the same, and his pronunciation of the word "frittata" may well be the film's high point.

2. To eat something as a meal.

   Don't walk near the tiger: it'll make a meal of you.

Translations

spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 小题大作 (zh) (xiǎotídàzuò), 杀鸡用牛刀 (zh)

• Finnish: nysvätä (fi), pipertää (fi), pakertaa (fi)
• French: faire tout un plat de (fr), faire un plat de (fr)

eat something as a meal

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 用餐 (zh) (yòngcān)

• Finnish: nauttia ateriaksi
• French: ne faire qu’une bouchée (fr), avaler tout rond (fr), manger tout cru