- skip - Brewer’s

Eat

.

To eat humble pie. (See Humble Pie.)

To eat one out of house and home. To eat so much that one will have to part with house and home in order to pay for it.

To eat one’s words. To retract in a humiliating manner; to unsay what you have said; to eat your own lick.

To eat the mad cow. A French phrase, implying that a person is reduced to the very last extremity, and is willing to eat even a cow that has died of madness; glad to eat cat’s meat.        

“Il mangea de cette chose inexprimable quʹon appelle de la vache enragee.”—Victor Hugo: Les Miserables.

To eat the leek. (See Leek.)

To eat well. To have a good appetite. But “It eats well” means that what is eaten is agreeable or flavorous. To “eat badly” is to eat without appetite or too little; not pleasant to the taste.

 

previous entry · index · next entry

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

previous entry · index · next entry

Earthquakes
Earwig
Ease
Ease (Chapel of)
Ease Her!
East
East Indies
Easter
Easter-day Sun
Easter Eggs
Eat
Eat not the Brain
Eat not the Heart
Eat One’s Heart Out (To)
Eats his Head Off (The horse)
Eating One’s Terms
Eating Together
Eau de Cologne
Eau de Vie
Eaves-dropper
Ebionism