eat crow

present singular third person eats crow · participle present eating crow · past ate crow · participle past eaten crow

1. USidiomaticTo recognize that one has been shown to be mistaken or outdone, especially by admitting that one has made a humiliating error.

   He must apologise, he saw that clearly enough, must eat crow, as he told himself.

   1901, Frank Norris, chapter 2, in The Octopus

   4 more examples

   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.

   1937 July 19, “Baseball Races”, in Time, archived from the original on 06 Dec 2008

   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.

   1950, J.C.N.P., “Libel Actions by Political Organizations”, in University of Pennsylvania Law Review, volume 98, number 6, page 883

   [Alison] Roman, now typical for such cases, ate crow with an apologetic statement about how she had reflected and realized her error.

   2021, John H. McWhorter, chapter 1, in Woke Racism, New York: Forum, →ISBN

   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.

   2024 September 6, Kyle Klondik, University of Virginia Center for Politics