Meaning of Idiom ‘Eat Like a Horse’
To eat like a horse means to eat a large amount of food or to have a very large appetite. 1,2
Compare to:
I Could Eat a Horse.
Eat Like a Bird.
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Examples Of Use
“If Ben is coming to visit you better buy extra food. He eats like a horse.”
“I had the oddest first date ever. The woman completely ignored me and ate like a horse.”
Origin
Used since the early 1700s.
The idiom alludes to the idea that horses eat a lot. They seem to eat constantly and will eat whatever is available. The idiom used as an antonym, eat like a bird, is technically inaccurate. Relative to their body weight, horses do not eat as much as a bird does! 3
More Idioms Starting with E
- Every Little Thing
- Even a Broken Clock Is Right Twice a Day
- Every Name in the Book, been called
- Egg On
- Egg On Your Face, to have
More Appetite Related Idioms
More Animal Idioms
- Copycat
- Scaredy-Cat
- Play Cat and Mouse
- Look What the Cat Dragged In
- Down the Rabbit Hole
- Beat a Dead Horse
More Eat/Eating Idioms
More Food Related Idioms
- I Could Murder (A Food/Drink)
- Go Pear-shaped
- Chopped Liver
- Low-Hanging Fruit
- Know Which Side Your Bread is Buttered On
- Like Shooting Fish in a Barrel
- Bread and Butter
More Horse Idioms
- Beat a Dead Horse
- I’m Going to See a Man About a Horse (Dog, Duck) Meaning
- If Wishes Were Horses
- A Shoo-in
- Rarin’ To Go
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References- Brenner, Gail Abel. Webster’s New World American Idioms Handbook. Wiley, 2003.
- Kirkpatrick, Elizabeth M. The Wordsworth Dictionary of Idioms. Ware: Wordsworth, 1995.
- Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.