verb phrase🎓 English idiom

bite off more than you can chew

to take on more than you can handle

What it means

To take on a task or commitment that is too large or difficult to manage. It warns against overestimating your capacity and ending up overwhelmed.

Examples

  • By volunteering for three committees at once, she bit off more than she could chew.
  • I think I bit off more than I could chew when I agreed to renovate the whole house.
  • Don't bite off more than you can chew during your first month at the new job.
  • He bit off more than he could chew and missed two deadlines that week.

Where it comes from

A 19th-century American expression drawn literally from taking too big a mouthful of food, possibly linked to chewing tobacco, where greedy bites caused trouble.

Related idioms

#put the cart before the horse#burn the candle at both ends#jump the gun#throw caution to the wind

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