Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

eat one's head off

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.28 in modern English

Syllables: eat one's -head- off
IPA

24

Scrabble Score

14

Letters

3

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

Of an animal: to cost more to feed than it is worth.

Example Sentences

"And then, as he sauntered up Whitehall towards Charing Cross, with Robarts on his arm, he again pressed upon him the sale of that invaluable hunter, who was eating his head off his shoulders in the stable at Chaldicotes."
"Now Jim and I had found it necessary to buy a horse and cart, and the animal was eating its head off in a stable by the mill."
"‘The strawberry leaves,’ said the young man. ‘The balm, the sceptre, and the ball. To say nothing of that dashed great barracks down at Denver, eating its mouldy head off.’"
"He knew that, only a few hours from London, the Hunt was cubbing over his ancestral and much-mortgaged acres, while his own horse ate its head off in a stable."

Inflected Forms

eats one's head off (present, singular) eating one's head off (participle, present) ate one's head off (past) eaten one's head off (participle, past)

Questions

What does eat one's head off mean?: Of an animal: to cost more to feed than it is worth.

How to pronounce eat one's head off

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