eat someone out of house and home
English
Etymology
Appears in The Second Shepherds' Play by The Wakefield Master (1400-1450), later used by the English playwright William Shakespeare (1564 (baptised) – 1616) in his play Henry IV, Part 2 (c. 1596–1599): see the quotation.
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Verb
eat someone out of house and home (third-person singular simple present eats someone out of house and home, present participle eating someone out of house and home, simple past ate someone out of house and home, past participle eaten someone out of house and home)
- (idiomatic) To consume so much of someone's store of food that little or none is left for the owner.
- c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, OCLC 55178895, [Act II, scene i]:
- [H]e hath eaten me out of houſe and home, he hath put all my ſubſtance into that fat belly of his, but I will haue ſome of it out againe, or I will ride thee a nights like the mare.
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Related terms
- out of house and home
Translations
to consume so much of someone's store of food
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