chomp at the bit
chomp at the bit verb: to show impatience or frustration when delayed.
Verb
chomp at the bit (third-person singular simple present chomps at the bit, present participle chomping at the bit, simple past and past participle chomped at the bit)
- To show impatience or frustration when delayed.
- Electronics makers chomping at the bit.2004, Lisa Wang, Taipei Times read at http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2004/03/16/2003102683 on 14 May 2006
- But I wouldn't say [they're frustrated], I think our players are just chomping at the bit to go.2005, Guy Hedderwick, speaking to Joel Zander of Australian Broadcasting Corporation, New Zealand Knights: Outsiders read at...
Forms of chomp at the bit
| third-person singular present | chomps at the bit |
|---|---|
| present participle | chomping at the bit |
| past participle | chomped at the bit |
| past | chomped at the bit |
| alternative form | champ at the bit |
Origin of chomp at the bit
Non-standard variant of champ at the bit, recasting it as chomp (“to chew noisily”) + bit (“part of a horse's harness held in its mouth”); horses tend to chew on their bits when impatient at waiting.
Questions about chomp at the bit
- What does chomp at the bit mean?
- Chomp at the bit means to show impatience or frustration when delayed.
- What part of speech is chomp at the bit?
- Chomp at the bit is a verb.
- What is the past tense of chomp at the bit?
- The past tense of chomp at the bit is chomped at the bit.
Words near chomp at the bit in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: chomp at the bit (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-chomp at the bit.ogg.
Cite this entry: “chomp at the bit.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/chomp_at_the_bit. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.