# eat someone out of house and home

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/eat-someone-out-of-house-and-home
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

To consume so much of someone's store of food that little or none is left for the owner.

## Examples

- My teenage nephews eat me out of house and home every weekend.
- These hungry workers eat me out of house and home every single day.
- Stop eating me out of house and home by snacking on everything in the fridge.
- When my cousins stayed for the summer, they managed to eat me out of house and home within a week.
- The new puppy is growing so fast that he is eating us out of house and home with his constant hunger.
- I need to go grocery shopping again because my roommates always eat me out of house and home before Friday.
- Hosting the entire football team for dinner is expensive because those players will eat you out of house and home.
- The guests were so hungry that they practically ate their hosts out of house and home, leaving the pantry entirely bare by Sunday morning.

## Origin

Appears in The Second Shepherds' Play by The Wakefield Master (1400-1450), later used by the English playwright William Shakespeare (1564 (baptised) – 1616) in his play Henry IV, Part 2 (c. 1596–1599): see the quotation.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.