chew the scenery

English

Alternative forms

chew on the scenery, chew up the scenery

Etymology

Its earliest reference is listed in the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang as being used by Mary Hallock Foote in Coeur D'Alene in 1894.

Pronunciation

Audio (AU) (file)

Verb

chew the scenery

(idiomatic, performing arts) To display excessive emotion or to act in an exaggerated manner while performing; to be melodramatic; to be flamboyant.
- 2006 October 11, James Poniewozik, "Fall TV Preview," Time:
  Starring as a Great White Hope police commissioner sent to clean up Washington, D.C., Nelson displays a set of pipes barely hinted at in his years on "Coach," spending the long pilot hour barking, bloviating, singing(!) and generally chewing the scenery.

Synonyms

ham it up, melodramatize, overact, tear a cat

Translations

To perform in an excessively emotional or exaggerated manner

French: cabotiner (fr), surjouer (fr)
Italian: essere sopra le righe

Spanish: robar escena

References

Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang