eat humble pie

verb

Etymology

The spoken phrase a numble pie (a pie made from the entrails of a deer) was rebracketed as an umble pie, then written as (a) humble pie, after which the figurative meaning developed.

Definitions

  1. To admit one's faults

    To admit one's faults; to make a humiliating apology.

    • Polly had a spice of girlish malice, and rather liked to see domineering Tom eat humble-pie, just enough to do him good, you know.
    • Angela shook her head. “Men are dull creatures.” “I have already granted that, and I am eating humble pie in asking for an explanation.”

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for eat humble pie. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA