Idiom idiom
dine on ashes
Meaning
To mope over past defeats or failures.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Stop dining on ashes and look toward the future.”
“He spent years dining on ashes after his business failed instead of starting something new.”
“Rather than dining on ashes over his lost political career, he chose to write a book about his experiences.”
Anchors to
Last updated August 10, 2026