if a plan or some work goes up in smoke, it is spoiled or wasted.

Then his business went bankrupt and 20 years of hard work went up in smoke.

• a man after your own heart
• a man-eater
• a man for all seasons
• a man Friday
• a man of few words
• a man of God
• a man of his word
• a man of letters
• a man of many parts
• a man of means
• a man of straw
• a man of the cloth
• a man of the world
• a man's got to do what a man's got to do.
• a man's man
• a mare's nest
• a marked man
• a marriage made in heaven
• a match made in heaven
• a matter of
• a matter of doing something
• a matter of life and death
• a matter of life or death
• a matter of opinion
• a matter of record