eat out of someone's hand, to
eat out of someone's hand
Fig. to do exactly as someone says; to grovel to someone. I've got her eating out of my hand. She'll do anything I ask. He will be eating out of your hand before you are finished with him.
See also: eat, hand, of, out
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
eat out of someone's hand
Be manipulated or dominated by another, be submissive, as in He had the press eating out of his hand. This metaphoric expression alludes to a tame animal eating out of one's hand. [Early 1900s]
See also: eat, hand, of, out
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
eat out of (someone's) hand
To be manipulated or dominated by another.
See also: eat, hand, of, out
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.
eat out of someone's hand, to
To be quite submissive. This expression, referring to a tame animal eating from a person’s hand, dates from the early twentieth century. “He’s like that,” wrote Joseph Conrad (Victory, 1915), “sometimes that familiar you might think he would eat out of your hand.”
See also: eat, of, out
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- have (someone) eating out of (one's) hand
- have somebody eating out of your hand
- have someone eating out of your hand
- have (someone) eating out of the palm of (one's) hand
- What’s eating someone?
- eat out of (one's) hand
- eat out of hand
- eat out of someone's hand
- eat for two
- eating