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. 1Brenner, Gail Abel. Webster’s New World American Idioms Handbook. Wiley, 2003.,2Kirkpatrick, Elizabeth M. The Wordsworth Dictionary of Idioms. Ware: Wordsworth, 1995.
Compare to:
I Could Eat a Horse.
Eat Like a Bird.
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Usage
“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 1700’s.
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! 3Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.
More Idioms Starting with E
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- Couch Potato
- Not For All the Tea in China
- Not My Cup of Tea
- Don’t Cry Over Spilt Milk
- Eat Humble Pie
- Sell Like Hot Cakes
- Last One In is a Rotten Egg
More Horse Idioms
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Sources
| 1. | ↲ | Brenner, Gail Abel. Webster’s New World American Idioms Handbook. Wiley, 2003. |
| 2. | ↲ | Kirkpatrick, Elizabeth M. The Wordsworth Dictionary of Idioms. Ware: Wordsworth, 1995. |
| 3. | ↲ | Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. |