Meaning
Said of a person, animal or habit whose consumption is so large it ruins the household footing the bill; today usually hyperbole with affectionate exasperation, aimed at hungry teenagers, long-stay guests or pets rather than genuine destitution. Hyperbolic and humorous, normally affectionate exasperation rather than a real grievance. Regional use: General English (Shakespearean origin).
Origin
In Henry IV Part 2, Act 2 Scene 1 (1597), the innkeeper Mistress Quickly complains to the Lord Chief Justice about Falstaff's unpaid debts: 'He hath eaten me out of house and home; he hath put all my substance into that fat belly of his.' The Folger text confirms the scene and wording. The Phrase Finder demotes Shakespeare from coiner to populariser: Thomas Cooper's 1578 glossary Thesaurus Linguae Romanae et Britannicae already rendered 'to eate out of house and home', and the building block 'house and home' appears in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle under 1129. It was Mistress Quickly's comic complaint that fixed the expression in the language.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- ate us out of house and home
- eat someone out of house and home
- eat you out of house and home
- eaten me out of house and home
- eating us out of house and home
Usage Examples
- The twins are eating us out of house and home this summer.
- Your greyhounds would eat me out of house and home if I fostered them both.
- Long-stay boarders will eat you out of house and home, the landlady warned.