Word.ws English Dictionary

bit off more than one could chew

bit off more than one could chew is the simple past of bite off more than one can chew.

Meaning of bite off more than one can chew

Verb

bite off more than one can chew (third-person singular simple present bites off more than one can chew, present participle biting off more than one can chew, simple past bit off more than one could chew, past participle bitten off more than one could chew)

  1. (idiomatic) To try to do too much; to take on or attempt more than one is capable of doing.
    • I think I bit off more than I could chew when I agreed to paint this house by myself.

Questions about bit off more than one could chew

What is bit off more than one could chew the simple past of?
Bit off more than one could chew is the simple past of bite off more than one can chew.

Words near bit off more than one could chew in the dictionary

  1. bit of muslin
  2. bit of rough
  3. bit of skirt
  4. bit of stuff
  5. bit off
  6. bit off more than one could chew
  7. bit on granite
  8. bit on the side
  9. bit one's lip
  10. bit one's nails
  11. bit one's thumb

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bit off more than one could chew (page history and authors); bite off more than one can chew (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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