eat out of someone's hand

present singular third person eats out of someone's hand · participle present eating out of someone's hand · past ate out of someone's hand · participle past eaten out of someone's hand · alternative eat from someone's hand

1. idiomaticTo behave in a docile, submissive way towards someone.

   When a woman has her husband eating out of her hand, says Washout, you can bet she also has him eating out of cans.

   1954 October 7, Earl Wilson, “Earl Wilson's Broadway”, in Sarasota Herald-Tribune, retrieved 20 Jul 2010, page 17

   3 more examples

   "And after all this," I remarked, "I suppose you were ready to eat out of his hand." "Don't be coarse, James. I don't know where you get these vulgar expressions from."

   1926, Agatha Christie, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

   Jana Pittman, the new 400m hurdles world champion, had the media eating out of her hand in the aftermath of her victory.

   2003 August 30, Tom Fordyce, “Saturday's Paris diary”, in BBC News, retrieved 20 Jul 2010

   Violetta is well aware of all this and goes out of her way to charm him. . . . He eats out of her hand and would not notice if she fed him rocks.

   2008, Dave Duncan, The Alchemist's Apprentice, →ISBN, page 151