to eat his head off
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
T9 cost more in food than he is worth; to do little or no work. The phrase comes from the stable.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to eat his head off” mean?
T9 cost more in food than he is worth; to do little or no work. The phrase comes from the stable.
Is “to eat his head off” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.