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Glite Dictionary
🪖 To defend position 🍽️ To start eating
to dig in

to dig in

21 1.9
To start eating eagerly, often at a shared meal
  • phrasal verb
  • /dɪɡ ɪn/
  • Informal
translation icon : hincar el diente
  • After a long day, we finally sat down and dug in to our well-deserved dinner.
  • Let's dig in
  • guests dig in
  • Dig in, guys

So I am going to dig in and enjoy.

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Examples

Synonyms

to dive in
vsto dig in
  • Informal
23 3.7

Start doing something quickly and with a lot of energy

is limited to beginning to eat eagerly, not any action
to gobble up
vsto dig in
  • Informal
19 3.0

To eat something quickly and eagerly

starts eating with enthusiasm rather than emphasizing quickness
to munch on
vsto dig in
  • Informal
14 2.9

To eat something while chewing loudly and enjoying it

starts eating with enthusiasm rather than focusing on chewing
to devour
vsto dig in
13 2.9

To eat food quickly because you are very hungry

starts eating with enthusiasm rather than focusing on speed
to wolf down
vsto dig in
  • Informal
7 5.8

Eat food very quickly when you are very hungry

starts eating with enthusiasm rather than from urgent hunger
to stuff one's face
vsto dig in
  • Informal
3 8.2

To eat a lot of food very quickly

starts eating with enthusiasm rather than eating without restraint
to tuck in
vsto dig in
  • UK
2 4.0

To eat a lot of food eagerly

starts eating with eagerness rather than focusing on quantity
to shovel in
vsto dig in
  • Informal
7.7

To eat a lot of food very fast without stopping

starts eating with enthusiasm rather than eating greedily or excessively

Antonyms

to refuse
716 1.7

To say no to a request or offer

to pick at
5 4.6

Eat very small amounts of food when not feeling hungry

How Eager

to devour
13 2.9
to dig in
  • Informal
21 1.9
to eat
∞ 1.0
to nibble
56 2.0
to pick at
5 4.6

Surface Forms

dig in infinitive
digging in present participle
digs in third person singular
dug in past
dug in past participle

Morphology

dig + in

The sense 'to start eating eagerly' is a metaphorical extension of the literal image of 'dig' (to penetrate or plunge into something) plus 'in' (into), so a learner could plausibly infer the action of plunging into food. However, the specific idiomatic sense of beginning a meal enthusiastically is not a direct, fully predictable composition of the parts and relies on pragmatic/gestural imagery, so it may not be immediately clear to all B1 learners without prior exposure.

Etymology

Dig in comes from the image of someone pushing a fork or their hands to dig in to a plate of food and get right into it. That's why the phrase now means 'to start eating eagerly'.