to eat like a horse
3
4.9
- idiom
- Informal
:
comer como un caballo
- Whenever we go to the buffet, I always joke that I can eat like a horse without getting full.
She called it Black Tulip and ate like a horse.
- She called it Black Tulip and ate like a horse.
Examples
-
After finishing his meal, he remarked that he could eat like a horse and still be hungry.
-
Anyway, my sister has always eaten like a horse, and she's always been naturally thin and athletic-looking.
Blog text (4) -
But I ate like a horse; seriously, anything you put in front of me did not stand a chance.
Blog text (5) -
Girl eats like a horse.
-
And he eats like a horse.
-
He thought of Mike, who ate like a horse.
Fiction book (1999) -
In Vienna, Yetta lived like a princess and ate like a horse.
Fiction book (1990) -
She eats like a horse and her sister eats like a bird.
Fiction book (1994) -
"He used to eat like a horse, and now he just pushes the food around his plate," Mr. Arzt said.
Blog text (30) -
She has a fast metabolism and tends to eat like a horse during the soccer season.
Synonyms
109
5.8
To eat a lot quickly until you feel too full
19
3.0
To eat something quickly and eagerly
14
3.1
To eat more food than your body needs at one time
13
2.9
To eat food quickly because you are very hungry
12
5.9
To eat a very large amount of food greedily
12
4.5
To do something like eating, drinking, or watching a lot in a short time
7
7.5
Eat a very large amount of food without control
7
7.9
To eat a lot in a greedy way
5
7.8
To eat in a very messy and greedy way
3
6.2
Let yourself and others have too much food or drink
3
8.2
To eat a lot of food very quickly
2
4.0
To eat a lot of food eagerly
1
7.6
To eat or drink too much
1
7.7
To eat a lot of food quickly without control
1
7.9
To eat too much food at one time
1
9.9
To eat a lot of food quickly without control
1
5.7
To eat a lot of food quickly while enjoying it
To eat too much food quickly and greedily
To eat too much food in a greedy way
To eat a lot of food in a greedy way until you feel too full
To eat too much in a greedy way
To eat a lot of food quickly
To eat a lot of food very fast without stopping
To eat a lot of food very quickly
Eating a lot and not leaving enough for others
To eat so much at someone's home that they have almost no food left
How Much
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a straightforward simile: the comparative marker 'like' plus the animal 'horse' signals eating in the manner of a horse, which most learners know implies large consumption. Because the meaning ('eat a lot') is compositionally signaled and has cross-linguistic equivalents, a B1 learner who knows the constituents can reliably infer it.
Etymology
Eat like a horse comes from the simple image of a horse that eats large amounts of hay or grass. Because horses eat so much, saying someone eats like a horse means 'to eat a very large amount of food'.