Dictionary

eat one's heart out en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Disputed. Three schools of thought exist: * From "This will eat your heart out.", suggesting that the recipient of the taunt will have their heart, the core of their being, eaten out with desire, bitterness, or pain. * From the 16th century "to eat one's own heart" (to suffer in silence from anguish or grief), possibly from the Bible "to eat one's own flesh" (to be lazy). The phrase "to eat one's heart out" appears as a formulaic phrase in the Iliad, meaning to experience extreme grief. (For instance, Iliad.24.128, and many other locations.) * When used as the taunt "Eat your heart out, [someone]!" a suggestion that the recipient of the taunt "eat up" as much as they like. Figuratively more akin to "experience me besting you."

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) To feel overwhelming sorrow, jealousy, or longing; to grieve.
   • People in ordinary life who pine for want of something to do and to care about, are subject to ailments which are called “the maladies of ennui.” These are real diseases, though arising from moral causes. The brain wears upon itself, the nerves become disordered, and the various bodily functions are disturbed, just as in the case of a restless prisoner who is said to “eat his heart out” in captivity. 1861, Harriet Martineau, “The soldier and sailor: their health”, in Once a Week (Series 1, Volume IV):
   • Castles where [August the Strong] imprisoned this discarded mistress or that - one of them, who persisted in her claim to a better title, forty years, it is said, poor lady! The narrow rooms where she ate her heart out and died are still shown. 1900, Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men on the Bummel:
   • Jon: We got a postcard from Doc Boy! He’s vacationing in Loogieville, Indiana…says he had his picture taken with the world’s largest corn cob Garfield: Eiffel Tower, eat your heart out 2001 August 18, Jim Davis, Garfield:
   • Eat your heart out, pal! We won the title!
   • The Brazilians are eating their hearts out over their defeat by Germany in the World Cup.

Forms

Translations (19)

ro băga unghia în gât (feel overwhelming negative emotion) · ro crăpa de ciudă (feel overwhelming negative emotion) · he אכל את הלב (feel overwhelming negative emotion) · it rodersi il fegato (feel overwhelming negative emotion) · ro muri de ciudă (feel overwhelming negative emotion) · de vor Neid erblassen (feel overwhelming negative emotion) · nl lekker puh (feel overwhelming negative emotion) · pl zadręczać się (feel overwhelming negative emotion) · fi tuntea tuskaa (feel overwhelming negative emotion) · ru горева́ть (feel overwhelming negative emotion) · nl nou jij weer (feel overwhelming negative emotion) · ru печа́литься (feel overwhelming negative emotion) · fr se ronger le cœur (feel overwhelming negative emotion) · fi kärsiä (feel overwhelming negative emotion) · fi sirotella tuhkaa päällensä (feel overwhelming negative emotion) · sv slänga sig i väggen (feel overwhelming negative emotion) · pl zadręczyć się (feel overwhelming negative emotion) · cmn 傷心 /伤心 (feel overwhelming negative emotion) · pt morrer de inveja (feel overwhelming negative emotion)