Definition

1. Verb phrase:
   • To prepare a feast: The primary meaning of "làm cỗ" is to prepare and arrange a large, elaborate meal, typically for a significant event such as a death anniversary, wedding, or important celebration.
   • To do the hard work for someone else's benefit: In an idiomatic sense, "làm cỗ" can imply doing the difficult preparatory work only for another person to take the main reward or credit.

Usage Examples

• Verb phrase:
  • Cả nhà cùng nhau làm cỗ để cúng giỗ ông. (The whole family prepared a feast together for the grandfather's death anniversary.)
  • Họ làm cỗ cưới cho hơn một trăm khách. (They prepared a wedding feast for over a hundred guests.)
  • Anh ấy làm cỗ sẵn, còn tôi thì hưởng. (He did all the hard work, and I got to enjoy the benefits.)

Advanced Usage

• "Làm cỗ sẵn": A specific idiom meaning to "beat the bush for another to catch the birds" or to "work for the King of Prussia." It describes the act of laboring to prepare something, only for someone else to reap the final reward.
  • Đừng có làm cỗ sẵn cho họ ăn. (Don't do all the hard work just for them to take the credit.)

Variants and Related Words

• Cỗ bàn (n): Refers to the feast itself, the spread of food prepared for a ceremony.
  • Cỗ bàn trong đám cưới rất thịnh soạn. (The feast at the wedding was very sumptuous.)

Synonyms

• Prepare a banquet: To arrange a large formal meal.
• Do the spadework: To do the hard preparatory work.

Related Idioms

• Làm cỗ sẵn: As detailed above, this is the key idiom associated with the phrase, emphasizing the unfairness of doing preparatory work for another's gain.

1. Prepare a feast (on a death anniversary, wedding...)
   • Làm cỗ sẵn
     To beat the bush for another to catch the birds