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Glite Dictionary
to dine on ashes

to dine on ashes

9.9
To feel deep sadness and disappointment after a loss
  • idiom
  • Archaic
translation icon : vivir de luto
  • After her dreams were shattered, she felt she could only dine on ashes for years.

Examples

  • After losing her job, she felt like she would dine on ashes for months.

  • Following the tragic news, the entire family seemed to dine on ashes for months.

  • He tried to celebrate, but the memory of his failure made him dine on ashes.

  • Don't dine on ashes!

  • After losing his best friend, he felt as if he had to dine on ashes for a long time.

  • When she received the rejection letter, it felt like she would dine on ashes from then on.

  • After the team's devastating loss, the players seemed to dine on ashes throughout the season.

Synonyms

to mourn
vsto dine on ashes
191 3.0

Feel or show deep sadness after someone dies

covers deep sorrow after any loss or hardship rather than only death

Antonyms

to celebrate
∞ 1.4

To join fun events to mark a special day or achievement

to triumph
60 3.4

To win or succeed and feel great joy

Surface Forms

dine on ashes infinitive
dined on ashes past
dined on ashes past participle
dining on ashes present participle
dines on ashes third person singular

Morphology

dine + on + ash

The phrase literally composes 'dine' + 'on' + 'ashes', which evokes the image of consuming something bitter or ruinous and thus can metaphorically suggest suffering or loss. However, this is a literary/metaphorical extension rather than a straightforward compositional meaning, so a B1 learner who only knows the constituent words would not reliably infer the idiomatic sense without prior exposure.

Etymology

Dine on ashes may come from the image of someone eating the gray remains after a fire, where dine means 'to eat' and ashes are what is left after burning. That's why the phrase means 'to feel deep sorrow'.