Eat humble pie
Suggest a CorrectionMeaning
Admit that you were wrong or accept defeat, usually after having spoken or behaved with too much confidence.
Origin
The expression is a play on umble pie, a pie made from the umbles, or edible inner parts, of an animal, especially a deer. The food name is recorded in the seventeenth century. Because umble and humble sounded alike, humble pie later invited an association with humility; Merriam-Webster dates the figurative noun to 1830. The wordplay is well supported, but the familiar social story that lords ate the best meat while servants were restricted to umble pie is not needed to explain the phrase and should not be stated as fact.
Research Sources
Usage Examples
- After insisting that the figures were flawless, I had to eat humble pie when the missing invoices appeared.
- The pundits who predicted an easy victory were eating humble pie by Monday morning.
- She apologised and ate humble pie rather than blaming the rest of the team.