'To eat humble pie' definitions:

Definition of 'To eat humble pie'

From: GCIDE
  • Humble \Hum"ble\ (h[u^]m"b'l; 277), a. [Compar. Humbler (h[u^]m"bl[~e]r); superl. Humblest (h[u^]m"bl[e^]st).] [F., fr. L. humilis on the ground, low, fr. humus the earth, ground. See Homage, and cf. Chameleon, Humiliate.]
  • 1. Near the ground; not high or lofty. [1913 Webster]
  • Thy humble nest built on the ground. --Cowley. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. Not pretentious or magnificent; unpretending; unassuming; modest; as, a humble cottage. Used to describe objects. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. Thinking lowly of one's self; claiming little for one's self; not proud, arrogant, or assuming; thinking one's self ill-deserving or unworthy, when judged by the demands of God; lowly; weak; modest. Used to describe people. [1913 Webster]
  • God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. --Jas. iv. 6. [1913 Webster]
  • She should be humble who would please. --Prior. [1913 Webster]
  • Without a humble imitation of the divine Author of our . . . religion we can never hope to be a happy nation. --Washington. [1913 Webster]
  • Humble plant (Bot.), a species of sensitive plant, of the genus Mimosa (Mimosa sensitiva).
  • To eat humble pie, to endure mortification; to submit or apologize abjectly; to yield passively to insult or humiliation; -- a phrase derived from a pie made of the entrails or humbles of a deer, which was formerly served to servants and retainers at a hunting feast. See Humbles. --Halliwell. --Thackeray. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'To eat humble pie'

From: GCIDE
  • Eat \Eat\ ([=e]t), v. t. [imp. Ate ([=a]t; 277), Obsolescent & Colloq. Eat ([e^]t); p. p. Eaten ([=e]t"'n), Obs. or Colloq. Eat ([e^]t); p. pr. & vb. n. Eating.] [OE. eten, AS. etan; akin to OS. etan, OFries. eta, D. eten, OHG. ezzan, G. essen, Icel. eta, Sw. [aum]ta, Dan. [ae]de, Goth. itan, Ir. & Gael. ith, W. ysu, L. edere, Gr. 'e`dein, Skr. ad. [root]6. Cf. Etch, Fret to rub, Edible.]
  • 1. To chew and swallow as food; to devour; -- said especially of food not liquid; as, to eat bread. "To eat grass as oxen." --Dan. iv. 25. [1913 Webster]
  • They . . . ate the sacrifices of the dead. --Ps. cvi. 28. [1913 Webster]
  • The lean . . . did eat up the first seven fat kine. --Gen. xli. 20. [1913 Webster]
  • The lion had not eaten the carcass. --1 Kings xiii. 28. [1913 Webster]
  • With stories told of many a feat, How fairy Mab the junkets eat. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
  • The island princes overbold Have eat our substance. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]
  • His wretched estate is eaten up with mortgages. --Thackeray. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. To corrode, as metal, by rust; to consume the flesh, as a cancer; to waste or wear away; to destroy gradually; to cause to disappear. [1913 Webster]
  • To eat humble pie. See under Humble.
  • To eat of (partitive use). "Eat of the bread that can not waste." --Keble.
  • To eat one's words, to retract what one has said. (See the Citation under Blurt.)
  • To eat out, to consume completely. "Eat out the heart and comfort of it." --Tillotson.
  • To eat the wind out of a vessel (Naut.), to gain slowly to windward of her.
  • Syn: To consume; devour; gnaw; corrode. [1913 Webster]