make a monkey out of - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
make a monkey out of (third-person singular simple present makes a monkey out of, present participle making a monkey out of, simple past and past participle made a monkey out of)
- (idiomatic, transitive) To cause a person, group, or action to appear foolish or inferior; to subject someone or something to ridicule.
1835, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter 10, in The Monikins:
The rough old sealer swore some terrible oaths, protesting "that he would not make a monkey of himself, by appearing in this garb."
1960 May 30, “Vive la R”, in Time:
Across France last week, doctors were trying to make a monkey of the government-controlled health-insurance system. . . . Doctors in many départements went on informal strike.
2008 April 28, Zafar Altaf, “Changing the resource base in farming”, in Pakistan Dawn, retrieved 4 Oct. 2008:
It is very difficult to make a monkey out of policy makers who can read and write and can argue a case logically.