louse up
Idioms-
Spoil, ruin, bungle. For example, The bad weather loused up our plans, or Your change of mind really loused me up. This slangy expression originated in World War I, when infestation with lice was the common lot of soldiers in the trenches; its figurative use dates from the 1930s.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I didn’t want to louse up the photo opportunity because it was the only chance to get the picture we all wanted, Clinton and Assad.
From Washington Post • Jul. 27, 2018
And then there was the problem of extra innings, a threat that loomed over every game, threatening to louse up our often down-to-the-hour plan.
From Slate • Apr. 2, 2015
They came out emphatically against the monarchy, Germans, capitalism, Dutch society in general, and had a number of ingenious notions about how to louse up the official rites.
From Time Magazine Archive
Soon after he took over as Prime Minister, Trudeau vowed that "I will not let this job louse up my private life."
From Time Magazine Archive
There's always stuff in the way to louse up a good flight plan.
From Eight Keys to Eden by Clifton, Mark
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.