eat someone's lunch
English · Thesaurus
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Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
eat someone's lunch
- /ˈiːt ˌsʌmwʌnz ˈlʌnt͡ʃ/ UK
- /-ˈlʌnʃ/ UK
- /ˈit ˌsʌmwʌnz ˈlʌnt͡ʃ/ US
- /-ˈlʌnʃ/ US
Rhymes with -ʌntʃ
Where it comes from
Possibly from the idea of a stronger or quicker person snatching away and eating another person’s lunch before they can consume it.
verb eats someone's lunch · eating someone's lunch · ate someone's lunch · eaten someone's lunch
-
To best or defeat someone thoroughly; to make short work of.
So in a classic it-ain't-broke-so-let's-fix-it-anyway move, some of our managers and salespeople began complaining that it wasn't written for Windows. […] If we didn't rewrite for Windows, they insisted, our competitors would eat our lunch!
Similar: eat someone for breakfast, have someone for breakfast, beat, bring down, convince, chew up, eat someone's lunch, flog, humble, kick ass, malavogue, murdelize
Talk about this word "eat someone's lunch." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/eat%20someone's%20lunch. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. eat someone's lunch. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/eat%20someone's%20lunch "eat someone's lunch." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/eat%20someone's%20lunch.Cite this
@misc{eat_someone_s_lunch_2026,
title = {eat someone's lunch},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/eat%20someone's%20lunch},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
