"eat crow" meaning in English

See eat crow in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: en-au-eat crow.ogg Forms: eats crow [present, singular, third-person], eating crow [participle, present], ate crow [past], eaten crow [participle, past]
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. Etymology templates: {{unk|en}} Unknown Head templates: {{en-verb|eat<,,ate,eaten> crow}} eat crow (third-person singular simple present eats crow, present participle eating crow, simple past ate crow, past participle eaten crow)
  1. (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. Tags: US, idiomatic Related terms: croweater, eat humble pie, hard pill to swallow Translations (to recognize that one has mistaken): ottaa lusikka kauniiseen käteen (Finnish), faire amende honorable (French), admettre son erreur (French), reconnaître son erreur (French), aller à Canossa (French), venir à Canossa (French), zu Kreuze kriechen (German), ingoiare il rospo (Italian), przyznawać się do błędu [imperfective] (Polish), przyznać się do błędu [perfective] (Polish), проглоти́ть пилю́лю (proglotítʹ piljúlju) (english: swallow the pill) [perfective] (Russian), проглоти́ть го́рькую пилю́лю (proglotítʹ górʹkuju piljúlju) (english: swallow the bitter pill) (Russian), tragar sapos (english: eat toad) (Spanish), krypa till korset (Swedish)

Inflected forms

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  "forms": [
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      "form": "eats crow",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
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    },
    {
      "form": "eating crow",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "ate crow",
      "tags": [
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      "form": "eaten crow",
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      "name": "en-verb"
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1901, Frank Norris, chapter 2, in The Octopus:",
          "text": "He must apologise, he saw that clearly enough, must eat crow, as he told himself.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1937 July 19, “Baseball Races”, in Time, archived from the original on 2008-12-06:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1950, J.C.N.P., “Libel Actions by Political Organizations”, in University of Pennsylvania Law Review, volume 98, number 6, page 883:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021, John H. McWhorter, chapter 1, in Woke Racism, New York: Forum, →ISBN:",
          "text": "[Alison] Roman, now typical for such cases, ate crow with an apologetic statement about how she had reflected and realized her error.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2024 September 6, Kyle Klondik, University of Virginia Center for Politics:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To recognize that one has been shown to be mistaken or outdone, especially by admitting that one has made a humiliating error."
      ],
      "id": "en-eat_crow-en-verb-kXu22iSD",
      "links": [
        [
          "recognize",
          "recognize"
        ],
        [
          "mistake",
          "mistake"
        ],
        [
          "outdo",
          "outdo"
        ],
        [
          "admit",
          "admit"
        ],
        [
          "humiliating",
          "humiliating"
        ],
        [
          "error",
          "error"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(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."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "croweater"
        },
        {
          "word": "eat humble pie"
        },
        {
          "word": "hard pill to swallow"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to recognize that one has mistaken",
          "word": "ottaa lusikka kauniiseen käteen"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "to recognize that one has mistaken",
          "word": "faire amende honorable"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "to recognize that one has mistaken",
          "word": "admettre son erreur"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "to recognize that one has mistaken",
          "word": "reconnaître son erreur"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "to recognize that one has mistaken",
          "word": "aller à Canossa"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "to recognize that one has mistaken",
          "word": "venir à Canossa"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to recognize that one has mistaken",
          "word": "zu Kreuze kriechen"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "to recognize that one has mistaken",
          "word": "ingoiare il rospo"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to recognize that one has mistaken",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "przyznawać się do błędu"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to recognize that one has mistaken",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "przyznać się do błędu"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "english": "swallow the pill",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "proglotítʹ piljúlju",
          "sense": "to recognize that one has mistaken",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "проглоти́ть пилю́лю"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "english": "swallow the bitter pill",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "proglotítʹ górʹkuju piljúlju",
          "sense": "to recognize that one has mistaken",
          "word": "проглоти́ть го́рькую пилю́лю"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "english": "eat toad",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "to recognize that one has mistaken",
          "word": "tragar sapos"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "to recognize that one has mistaken",
          "word": "krypa till korset"
        }
      ]
    }
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      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/00/En-au-eat_crow.ogg/En-au-eat_crow.ogg.mp3",
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  "word": "eat crow"
}
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  "forms": [
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      "form": "eats crow",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
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    {
      "form": "eating crow",
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      "form": "ate crow",
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      "form": "eaten crow",
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      "word": "croweater"
    },
    {
      "word": "eat humble pie"
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      "word": "hard pill to swallow"
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        "Terms with Spanish translations",
        "Terms with Swedish translations"
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          "ref": "1901, Frank Norris, chapter 2, in The Octopus:",
          "text": "He must apologise, he saw that clearly enough, must eat crow, as he told himself.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1937 July 19, “Baseball Races”, in Time, archived from the original on 2008-12-06:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1950, J.C.N.P., “Libel Actions by Political Organizations”, in University of Pennsylvania Law Review, volume 98, number 6, page 883:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021, John H. McWhorter, chapter 1, in Woke Racism, New York: Forum, →ISBN:",
          "text": "[Alison] Roman, now typical for such cases, ate crow with an apologetic statement about how she had reflected and realized her error.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2024 September 6, Kyle Klondik, University of Virginia Center for Politics:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
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        "To recognize that one has been shown to be mistaken or outdone, especially by admitting that one has made a humiliating error."
      ],
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          "recognize",
          "recognize"
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        [
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        [
          "admit",
          "admit"
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          "humiliating"
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        "(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."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to recognize that one has mistaken",
      "word": "ottaa lusikka kauniiseen käteen"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to recognize that one has mistaken",
      "word": "faire amende honorable"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to recognize that one has mistaken",
      "word": "admettre son erreur"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to recognize that one has mistaken",
      "word": "reconnaître son erreur"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to recognize that one has mistaken",
      "word": "aller à Canossa"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to recognize that one has mistaken",
      "word": "venir à Canossa"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to recognize that one has mistaken",
      "word": "zu Kreuze kriechen"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "to recognize that one has mistaken",
      "word": "ingoiare il rospo"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to recognize that one has mistaken",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "przyznawać się do błędu"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to recognize that one has mistaken",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "przyznać się do błędu"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "english": "swallow the pill",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "proglotítʹ piljúlju",
      "sense": "to recognize that one has mistaken",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "проглоти́ть пилю́лю"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "english": "swallow the bitter pill",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "proglotítʹ górʹkuju piljúlju",
      "sense": "to recognize that one has mistaken",
      "word": "проглоти́ть го́рькую пилю́лю"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "english": "eat toad",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to recognize that one has mistaken",
      "word": "tragar sapos"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "to recognize that one has mistaken",
      "word": "krypa till korset"
    }
  ],
  "word": "eat crow"
}

Download raw JSONL data for eat crow meaning in English (5.5kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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