Meaning
To show restless impatience while being held back, especially when eager to start something. The image is a horse biting and gnawing at its bit - the metal mouthpiece of a bridle - while waiting for the moment it is let loose. Formal style guides and American Heritage prefer champ; chomp is now widespread and fully understood in American English. Pick one form and stay consistent within a piece. Regional use: General English; the chomp variant chiefly American.
Origin
The verb champ, to bite or chew, is recorded with the horse sense from at least 1577 per the OED. The Phrase Finder's earliest citation of the full expression is 1810, in the English curate Charles Lucas's religious poem Joseph, describing twelve beauteous steeds that champ at the bit. The figurative use for impatient people appears from the nineteenth century - an 1885 item in Ohio's Newark Daily Advocate has a politician 'champing at the bit tremendously, in his impatience' to tackle a rival. Chomp has been a variant of champ since the 1600s, and 'chomp at the bit' surfaced in American print by April 1920, in a recruitment advertisement in Illinois's Decatur Daily Review, later overtaking champ in US usage. Dictionaries divide: American Heritage lists only champ; Merriam-Webster lists both without comment.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- champing at the bit
- chomp at the bit
- chomping at the bit
Usage Examples
- The interns were champing at the bit to begin, but legal held the release for yet another week.
- Fans have been champing at the bit all winter for the sequel, refreshing the studio's page for news.
- She was champing at the bit to defend her title, training before dawn while her rivals slept.