Be forced to retract something one has said, as in The incumbent won easily, so I had to eat my words. This expression was already proverbial in John Ray's English Proverbs
(1670).
[Second half of 1500s]
| Idioms: eat one's words |
Be forced to retract something one has said, as in The incumbent won easily, so I had to eat my words. This expression was already proverbial in John Ray's English Proverbs
(1670).
[Second half of 1500s]
| swallow one's words (Idiom) | |
| eat (Idiom) | |
| eat crow (Idiom) |
Copyrights:
![]() | Idioms. The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |