Eat crow
Suggest a CorrectionMeaning
To admit a humiliating mistake and take the bitter hit, swallowing pride like a tough, unpalatable bird-grudgingly accepting defeat.
Origin
From 19th-century America, tied to a tale; possibly apocryphal-of a soldier forced to eat a crow he shot, punishment for bravado, in an 1850s paper. 'Crow' as slang for boasting grew by 1870, as in a 'New York Times' piece on a humbled politico. It reflects frontier grit and a taste for stark lessons, growing into a tart idiom of eating humble pie with feathers.
Variants
- Eat the crow
Usage Examples
- He had to eat crow after betting I'd fail.
- She ate crow when her big prediction flopped.
- Eat crow, buddy; you said it couldn't be done!
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