Word.ws English Dictionary

biting off more than one can chew

biting off more than one can chew is the present participle and gerund 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 biting off more than one can chew

What is biting off more than one can chew the present participle and gerund of?
Biting off more than one can chew is the present participle and gerund of bite off more than one can chew.

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

  1. biting in the ass
  2. biting it
  3. biting midge
  4. biting midges
  5. biting off
  6. biting off more than one can chew
  7. biting on granite
  8. biting one's lip
  9. biting one's nails
  10. biting one's thumb
  11. biting one's tongue

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: biting off more than one can 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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