"eat someone's lunch" meaning in All languages combined

{
  "etymology_text": "Possibly from the idea of a stronger or quicker person snatching away and eating another person’s lunch before they can consume it.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "eats someone's lunch",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "eating someone's lunch",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "ate someone's lunch",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "eaten someone's lunch",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "eat<,,ate,eaten> someone's lunch"
      },
      "expansion": "eat someone's lunch (third-person singular simple present eats someone's lunch, present participle eating someone's lunch, simple past ate someone's lunch, past participle eaten someone's lunch)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2006 October 2, “A Disastrous ‘Upgrade’: My Boss Insisted that Creating a Windows Version of Our DOS App would Ensure Our Future”, in Steve Fox, editor, InfoWorld, volume 28, number 40, San Francisco, Calif.: InfoWorld Publishing Co., International Data Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 52, column 1:",
          "text": "So in a classic it-ain't-broke-so-let's-fix-it-anyway move, some of our managers and salespeople began complaining that it wasn't written for Windows. […] If we didn't rewrite for Windows, they insisted, our competitors would eat our lunch!",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010 November 18, Kate Sheppard, “Outgoing GOPer Slams Climate Denying Colleagues”, in Mother Jones, San Francisco, Calif.: Foundation for National Progress, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-08-18:",
          "text": "\"I would also suggest to my free enterprise colleagues—especially conservatives here—whether you think it's all a bunch of hooey [i.e., climate change], what we've talked about in this committee, the Chinese don’t,\" the South Carolina Republican [Bob Inglis] said in his opening remarks. \"And they plan on eating our lunch in this next century.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Josh Linkner, “Gaining the Keys to a Creative Mind and Culture”, in Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity, San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass, Wiley, →ISBN, step 2 (Prepare), page 102:",
          "text": "It seemed inevitable: Slither was going to eat our lunch unless we upped our game and out-Slithered Slither. But here's the thing, The Slither Corporation doesn't actually exist. It's our fictive nemesis, our imaginary bad guys. Rather than battling a poorly performing company, we went up against our worst enemy—the company that we knew could put us out of business (if it really existed).",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 December 13, Molly Ball, Jeffrey Kluger, Alejandro de la Garza, “Time 2021 Person of the Year: Elon Musk”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-05-14:",
          "text": "Today, thanks in large part to [Elon] Musk's pace-setting, auto companies from VW to Nissan are jostling to invest billions in electric vehicles. Their about-face is driven less by altruism than by a dawning realization that Musk is eating their lunch.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 September 27, Spencer Kornhaber, “The Weirdos Living Inside Our Phones”, in The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-12-30:",
          "text": "Platforms such as TikTok and Instagram are, indeed, eating traditional comedy’s lunch lately when it comes to funny characters.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To best or defeat someone thoroughly; to make short work of."
      ],
      "id": "en-eat_someone's_lunch-en-verb-qSh2YcF7",
      "links": [
        [
          "best",
          "best#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "defeat",
          "defeat#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "thoroughly",
          "thoroughly"
        ],
        [
          "make short work of",
          "make short work of"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, chiefly US, slang) To best or defeat someone thoroughly; to make short work of."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "eat someone for breakfast"
        },
        {
          "word": "have someone for breakfast"
        },
        {
          "word": "defeat"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "idiomatic",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈiːt ˌsʌmwʌnz ˈlʌnt͡ʃ/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-ˈlʌnʃ/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈit ˌsʌmwʌnz ˈlʌnt͡ʃ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-ˈlʌnʃ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-eat someone's lunch.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a4/En-au-eat_someone%27s_lunch.ogg/En-au-eat_someone%27s_lunch.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/En-au-eat_someone%27s_lunch.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ʌntʃ"
    }
  ],
  "word": "eat someone's lunch"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "Possibly from the idea of a stronger or quicker person snatching away and eating another person’s lunch before they can consume it.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "eats someone's lunch",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "eating someone's lunch",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "ate someone's lunch",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "eaten someone's lunch",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "eat<,,ate,eaten> someone's lunch"
      },
      "expansion": "eat someone's lunch (third-person singular simple present eats someone's lunch, present participle eating someone's lunch, simple past ate someone's lunch, past participle eaten someone's lunch)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English slang",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Rhymes:English/ʌntʃ",
        "Rhymes:English/ʌntʃ/4 syllables"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2006 October 2, “A Disastrous ‘Upgrade’: My Boss Insisted that Creating a Windows Version of Our DOS App would Ensure Our Future”, in Steve Fox, editor, InfoWorld, volume 28, number 40, San Francisco, Calif.: InfoWorld Publishing Co., International Data Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 52, column 1:",
          "text": "So in a classic it-ain't-broke-so-let's-fix-it-anyway move, some of our managers and salespeople began complaining that it wasn't written for Windows. […] If we didn't rewrite for Windows, they insisted, our competitors would eat our lunch!",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010 November 18, Kate Sheppard, “Outgoing GOPer Slams Climate Denying Colleagues”, in Mother Jones, San Francisco, Calif.: Foundation for National Progress, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-08-18:",
          "text": "\"I would also suggest to my free enterprise colleagues—especially conservatives here—whether you think it's all a bunch of hooey [i.e., climate change], what we've talked about in this committee, the Chinese don’t,\" the South Carolina Republican [Bob Inglis] said in his opening remarks. \"And they plan on eating our lunch in this next century.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Josh Linkner, “Gaining the Keys to a Creative Mind and Culture”, in Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity, San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass, Wiley, →ISBN, step 2 (Prepare), page 102:",
          "text": "It seemed inevitable: Slither was going to eat our lunch unless we upped our game and out-Slithered Slither. But here's the thing, The Slither Corporation doesn't actually exist. It's our fictive nemesis, our imaginary bad guys. Rather than battling a poorly performing company, we went up against our worst enemy—the company that we knew could put us out of business (if it really existed).",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 December 13, Molly Ball, Jeffrey Kluger, Alejandro de la Garza, “Time 2021 Person of the Year: Elon Musk”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-05-14:",
          "text": "Today, thanks in large part to [Elon] Musk's pace-setting, auto companies from VW to Nissan are jostling to invest billions in electric vehicles. Their about-face is driven less by altruism than by a dawning realization that Musk is eating their lunch.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 September 27, Spencer Kornhaber, “The Weirdos Living Inside Our Phones”, in The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-12-30:",
          "text": "Platforms such as TikTok and Instagram are, indeed, eating traditional comedy’s lunch lately when it comes to funny characters.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To best or defeat someone thoroughly; to make short work of."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "best",
          "best#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "defeat",
          "defeat#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "thoroughly",
          "thoroughly"
        ],
        [
          "make short work of",
          "make short work of"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, chiefly US, slang) To best or defeat someone thoroughly; to make short work of."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "eat someone for breakfast"
        },
        {
          "word": "have someone for breakfast"
        },
        {
          "word": "defeat"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "idiomatic",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈiːt ˌsʌmwʌnz ˈlʌnt͡ʃ/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-ˈlʌnʃ/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈit ˌsʌmwʌnz ˈlʌnt͡ʃ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-ˈlʌnʃ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-eat someone's lunch.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a4/En-au-eat_someone%27s_lunch.ogg/En-au-eat_someone%27s_lunch.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/En-au-eat_someone%27s_lunch.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ʌntʃ"
    }
  ],
  "word": "eat someone's lunch"
}