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Thread: Origin of the idiom "bite off more than you can chew"

  1. 06-Sep-2007, 14:06 #1
    johnsononwallis
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    Default Origin of the idiom "bite off more than you can chew"

    Can anyone please tell me the origin of the idiom "bite off more then you (one) can chew"?
  2. 06-Sep-2007, 14:47 #2
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    Default Re: Origin of the idiom "bite off more than you can chew"

    To bite off more than one can chew (c.1880) is U.S. slang, from plug tobacco.

    Online Etymology Dictionary
  3. 06-Sep-2007, 14:53 #3
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    Default Re: Origin of the idiom "bite off more than you can chew"

    Bite Off More Than You Can Chew: becoming popular in the Americas in the late part of the 1800s (circa 1878) it was thought to have its origins in watching ... (Read more here).

    To bite off more than one can chew (c.1880) is U.S. slang, from plug tobacco. Online Etymology Dictionary
  4. 06-Sep-2007, 15:45 #4
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    Default Re: Origin of the idiom "bite off more than you can chew"

    To bite off more than one can chew (c.1880) is U.S. slang, from plug tobacco. (etymology online . com)
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