Word.ws English Dictionary

bite off more than one can chew

bite off more than one can chew verb: to try to do too much; to take on or attempt more than one is capable of doing.

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.

bite off more than one can chew meaning in Tamil, Arabic, Persian and Vietnamese

bite off more than one can chew in Tamil

சக்திக்கு மீறிச் செய்தல், அகலக்கால் வைத்தல்

bite off more than one can chew in Arabic

to try to do too much
قَضَمَ أَكْثَرَ مِمَّا يَسْتَطِيعُ مَضَغَهُ qaḍama ʔakṯara mimmā yastaṭīʕu maḍaḡahu

bite off more than one can chew in Persian

to try to do too much
لقمه گندهتر از دهن loqme-ye gonde-tar az dahan

bite off more than one can chew in Vietnamese

to try to do too much
liệu cơm gắp mắm

Synonyms of bite off more than one can chew

Forms of bite off more than one can chew

third-person singular presentbites off more than one can chew
present participlebiting off more than one can chew
pastbit off more than one could chew
past participlebitten off more than one could chew

Questions about bite off more than one can chew

What does bite off more than one can chew mean?
Bite off more than one can chew means to try to do too much; to take on or attempt more than one is capable of doing.
What is bite off more than one can chew in Tamil?
Bite off more than one can chew in Tamil is சக்திக்கு மீறிச் செய்தல், அகலக்கால் வைத்தல். See Bite off more than one can chew meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is bite off more than one can chew?
Bite off more than one can chew is a verb.
What is the past tense of bite off more than one can chew?
The past tense of bite off more than one can chew is bit off more than one could chew.

Words near bite off more than one can chew in the dictionary

  1. bite my shiny metal ass
  2. bite of the apple
  3. bite of the cherry
  4. bite of the reality sandwich
  5. bite off
  6. bite off more than one can chew
  7. bite on granite
  8. bite one's lip
  9. bite one's nails
  10. bite one's thumb
  11. bite one's tongue

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bite off more than one can chew (page history and authors); bite off more than one can chew (Tamil Wiktionary) (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-bite off more than one can chew.ogg.

Cite this entry: “bite off more than one can chew.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bite_off_more_than_one_can_chew. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.