What does it mean when we ‘eat crow’?

To eat crow is a phrase, or an idiom, used sometimes in conversation.

To eat crow means that you have to admit that you were wrong, and it can feel a bit embarrassing or humiliating. 

For example, “Members of that team boasted that they would win the race, but they had to eat crow when they didn’t win.” It’s similar to saying that they had to ‘eat their words’ or they had to ‘eat humble pie.’

The first mention of the phrase may have come from America in the mid-1800s. 

The Carrion Crow (Corvus corone) is a common bird that eats leftover food scraps and carrion, which is the meat of dead animals. Therefore, it was thought that the crow was unfit to eat and tasted awful. 

Photographer: Martina Nicolls

Martina Nicolls: SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM