- Meaning
- This idiom describes someone who consumes an excessive amount of food or resources, depleting a household’s supplies. It suggests a voracious appetite or financial burden, often used hyperbolically to describe guests, teenagers, or dependents. The phrase is applied in familial or social contexts, typically with a humorous or exasperated tone, reflecting the strain of supporting heavy consumption. It underscores cultural values of hospitality while highlighting the challenges of abundance or dependency.
- Origin
- The phrase originates from William Shakespeare’s *Henry IV, Part 2* (1598), where Mistress Quickly complains that Falstaff ‘hath eaten me out of house and home.’ It reflects Elizabethan concerns with household management and gluttony, drawing on the literal idea of consuming a home’s provisions. By the 17th century, it was a common proverb, as seen in John Ray’s 1678 *English Proverbs*. Its use grew in the 19th century, particularly in British and American literature, with Charles Dickens using it in *Great Expectations* (1861). The phrase’s dramatic imagery and relevance to domestic life ensured its spread, especially in contexts of economic strain or large families.
- Variants
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- Eat one out of house and home
- Eat you out of house and home
- Eaten out of house and home
- Eat them out of house and home
- Examples
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- Her teenage sons are eating her out of house and home with their endless appetites.
- The guests ate us out of house and home, emptying the pantry in one weekend.
- He’s eaten me out of house and home, devouring everything in the fridge.
- Eat them out of house and home, those cousins cleared out all the snacks!
- The team ate the coach out of house and home after practice, raiding his kitchen.
- She joked that her new puppy was eating her out of house and home with its constant hunger.
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