eat someone out of house and home

verb

To consume so much of someone's store of food that little or none is left for the owner.

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Meanings

verbeat someone out of house and home (third-person singular simple present eats someone out of house and home, present participle eating someone out of house and home, simple past ate someone out of house and home, past participle eaten someone out of house and home)

present singular third person eats someone out of house and home · participle present eating someone out of house and home · past ate someone out of house and home · participle past eaten someone out of house and home

  1. idiomaticTo consume so much of someone's store of food that little or none is left for the owner.

    [H]e hath eaten me out of houſe and home, he hath put all my ſubſtance into that fat belly of his, but I will haue ſome of it out againe, or I will ride thee a nights like the mare.

    c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]

Origin

Appears in The Second Shepherds' Play by The Wakefield Master (1400-1450), later used by the English playwright William Shakespeare (1564 (baptised) – 1616) in his play Henry IV, Part 2 (c. 1596–1599): see the quotation.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

German die Haare vom Kopf fressen, die Haare vom Kopf essen
  • die Haare vom Kopf fressento consume so much of someone's store of food
  • die Haare vom Kopf essento consume so much of someone's store of food
Hungarian kieszi a vagyonából
  • kieszi a vagyonábólto consume so much of someone's store of food
Cite this entry
APA

eat someone out of house and home. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/eat%20someone%20out%20of%20house%20and%20home

MLA

“eat someone out of house and home.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/eat%20someone%20out%20of%20house%20and%20home. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “eat someone out of house and home,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/eat%20someone%20out%20of%20house%20and%20home.

Source: eat someone out of house and home on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.