eat one's heart out

English

Etymology

Disputed. Three schools of thought exist:

• From "This will eat your heart out.", suggesting that the recipient of the taunt will have their heart, the core of their being, eaten out with desire, bitterness, or pain.
• From the 16th century "to eat one's own heart" (to suffer in silence from anguish or grief), possibly from the Bible "to eat one's own flesh" (to be lazy).
• When used as the taunt "Eat your heart out, [someone]!" a suggestion that the recipient of the taunt "eat up" as much as they like. Figuratively more akin to "experience me besting you."

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Verb

eat one's heart out

1. (idiomatic) To feel overwhelming sorrow, jealousy, or longing; to grieve.

   The Brazilians are eating their hearts out over their defeat by Germany in the World Cup.

   Eat your heart out, pal! We won the title!

Translations

feel overwhelming negative emotion

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 傷心／伤心 (zh) (shāngxīn), 伤心 (zh) (shāngxīn)

• Dutch: lekker puh, nou jij weer
• Finnish: kärsiä (fi), tuntea tuskaa, sirotella tuhkaa päällensä
• French: se ronger le cœur (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: vor Neid erblassen
• Hebrew: אכל את הלב m
• Portuguese: morrer de inveja
• Russian: горева́ть (ru) (gorevátʹ), печа́литься (ru) (pečálitʹsja)

References

• Phrases, Clichés, Expressions, & Sayings, accessed on 2005-04-05
• Origin of Phrases, accessed on 2005-04-05