Also: Snap someone’s head off
Meaning of Idiom ‘To Bite Someone’s Head Off’
To bite someone’s head off means to reply or speak to someone in a very sharp and angry way; to scold harshly. 1Ayto, John. Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms. Oxford: Oxford U, 2010.,2Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.,3Kirkpatrick, Elizabeth M. The Wordsworth Dictionary of Idioms. Ware: Wordsworth, 1995.
Sentence Examples
“I know you had a bad day but you don’t have to bite my head off. All I said was hello!”
“I asked Sabrina when she wanted to leave in the morning and she bit my head off. I think she can get a ride from someone else!”
“l’ll get home when l’m finished, not a second before. ls that clear? ls that clear?” “You don’t have to bite my head off.” — Falling Down (1993)
” Oh, maybe the eggs aren’t fresh. Julia says the eggs have to be fresh. “They are fresh.” “Okay. You don’t have to bite my head off. I’m just quoting Julia.” — Julie & Julia (2009)
“If l don’t talk, you get mad. lf l say anything, you bite my head off…” — The Man with the Golden Arm (1956)
Origin
This idiom derived from a much older idiom, dating from the 1500’s, bite someone’s nose off. The present idiom has been used since the mid-1900s, and the variant snap someone’s head off rarely used, since at least 1886. 2
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More Idioms Starting with B
More Bite Idioms
More Body Part Idioms
- Go Belly Up
- Stand On Someone’s Shoulders
- In One’s Face
- Give Someone the Cold Shoulder
- Know Something Like the Back Of One’s Hand
- Out of the Corner of One’s Eye
More Head Idioms
- Have Something Hanging Over Your Head
- Hard-Headed
- Running Around Like a Chicken With its Head Cut Off
- Off the Top Of My Head
- Hit the Nail On the Head
More Off Idioms
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