eat crow
/ˌit ˈkɹoʊ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.78 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
1
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To recognize that one has been shown to be mistaken or outdone, especially by admitting that one has made a humiliating error.
American usage
Example Sentences
- "He must apologise, he saw that clearly enough, must eat crow, as he told himself."
- "The Nationals started with Jerome Herman ("Dizzy") Dean, who reveled in striking out Lou Gehrig in the first inning. Gehrig made Dean eat crow in the third inning by smashing a home run."
- "In political libel, furthermore, a public recanting by the vilifier is more likely to be believed by the public, for it is well known that no politician likes to "eat crow" unless he has to."
- "[Alison] Roman, now typical for such cases, ate crow with an apologetic statement about how she had reflected and realized her error."
- "Today’s change means we only have one Senate race, Ohio, rated as a Toss-up. Democrats surely hope we’ll have to eat crow on today’s update and pull Montana back into the Toss-up category later in the cycle."
Etymology
First appeared in the US in the 1870s under the form eat boiled crow. Further origin unknown. Crow meat is considered unfit for consumption, but this is true of very many animals. Compare perhaps the association of black birds with misfortune.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌit ˈkɹoʊ/
Usage
- American usage