Eat crow

To eat crow means to admit a humiliating error one has made, to concede a humiliating defeat. Crow is an unappetizing food, even listed in the book of Leviticus in the Bible as an animal that is not to be eaten. The phrase appears around 1850 in the United States, and is presumed to have been derived from a story that appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in 1850, about a farmer who is challenged by his boarders to eat a crow. The original phrase was to eat boiled crow. Today the term has been streamlined to eat crow, related terms are eats crow, ate crow, eating crow.

Examples

However, I’ll eat crow here: I was certain we’d see 4GB and 8GB variants of the GTX 1060, but if this leak is genuine it proves that we’re getting 3GB and 6GB models. (Forbes Magazine)

As Americans tuck into turkey, Trump looks set to eat crow after mocking disabled reporter (The Japan Times)

I’m not writing this column to eat crow or to admit that I was wrong, but I’m truly, truly happy for the city of Cleveland and for the dedicated sports fans of northeast Ohio who are finally getting to celebrate a professional sports championship. (The Logan Daily News)

“I could be wrong, and if I am let it be known on today, Monday June 24th, if I am wrong and they actually get married, I will eat crow right here on this stage… with a lot of hot sauce.” (USA Today)

Now Pfizer CEO Ian Read has to eat crow and prove to the market that his company can be great on its own, after pretty much spending the past two years saying it was a big deal or bust. (Fortune Magazine)