eat crow

English

WOTD – 30 March 2012

Etymology

First appeared in the 1870s in America in the form eat boiled crow. Unknown origin, but probably a reference to the meat of the crow being very unappetizing.

Pronunciation

Audio (General Australian): (file)

Verb

eat crow (third-person singular simple present eats crow, present participle eating crow, simple past ate crow, past participle eaten crow)

(chiefly US, idiomatic) To recognize that one has been shown to be mistaken or outdone, especially by admitting that one has made a humiliating error.
- 1901, Frank Norris, chapter 2, in The Octopus‎^[1]:
  He must apologise, he saw that clearly enough, must eat crow, as he told himself.
- 1937 July 19, “Baseball Races”, in Time‎^[2], archived from the original on 2008-12-06:
  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.
- 1950, J.C.N.P., “Libel Actions by Political Organizations”, in University of Pennsylvania Law Review, volume 98, number 6, page 883:
  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.
- 2021, John H. McWhorter, chapter 1, in Woke Racism, New York: Forum, →ISBN:
  [Alison] Roman, now typical for such cases, ate crow with an apologetic statement about how she had reflected and realized her error.
- 2024 September 6, Kyle Klondik, University of Virginia Center for Politics‎^[3]:
  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.

Translations

to recognize that one has mistaken

Finnish: ottaa lusikka kauniiseen käteen
French: faire amende honorable (fr), admettre son erreur, reconnaître son erreur, aller à Canossa (fr), venir à Canossa (fr)
German: zu Kreuze kriechen (de)
Italian: ingoiare il rospo (literally “swallow the toad”)
Polish: przyznawać się do błędu impf, przyznać się do błędu pf
Russian: проглоти́ть пилю́лю pf (proglotítʹ piljúlju) (swallow the pill), проглоти́ть го́рькую пилю́лю (proglotítʹ górʹkuju piljúlju) (swallow the bitter pill)
Spanish: tragar sapos (eat toad)
Swedish: krypa till korset (sv) (literally “crawl to the cross”)

References

Michael Quinion (2004) “Eat crow”, in Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, →ISBN.

Anagrams

ate crow