eat your heart out

eat (one's) heart out

1. To feel great sadness. I feel just awful for Mary—she's been eating her heart out ever since she found out she was rejected by her top-choice school.
2. To be very jealous. In this usage, the phrase is often said as an imperative and sometimes mentions a famous person (when the speaker comically claims to be more talented than that person). Eat your heart out—I got tickets to the concert and you didn't! Look at how well I dance now—Gene Kelly, eat your heart out!
See also: eat, heart, out
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

eat your heart out

INFORMAL
COMMON If you say eat your heart out and mention the name of a famous person, you mean that you or someone else has just done the thing that person is famous for very well or to a great degree. In the following examples, James Bond is a character in action movies, and Robbie Williams is a pop singer. Note: The heart is traditionally regarded as the centre of the emotions. We just managed to overtake the bus, and smashed through the gate just as it was being closed. James Bond eat your heart out, I say. He's already amassed a £60 million fortune after selling more than 40 million albums worldwide — eat your heart out, Robbie Williams! Note: This idea is an old one - the Greek philosopher Pythagoras is said to have used the saying `do not eat your heart out', meaning `do not waste your life worrying'. Compare with your heart out.
See also: eat, heart, out
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

eat your heart out

1 suffer from excessive longing, especially for someone or something unattainable. 2 used to indicate that you think someone will feel great jealousy or regret about something.
2 1997 Christina Reid Clowns Wait'll you see my new frock. Joan Collins eat your heart out.
See also: eat, heart, out
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

eat your ˈheart out (for somebody/something)

(especially British English) be very unhappy because you want somebody/something that you cannot have: He’s eating his heart out for that woman.
See also: eat, heart, out

eat your ˈheart out

(spoken) used to compare two things and say that one of them is better: Look at him dance! Eat your heart out, John Travolta (= he dances even better than John Travolta).
See also: eat, heart, out
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • eat (one's) heart out
  • eat heart out
  • eat one’s heart out
  • eat one's heart out
  • hurt for (someone or something)
  • hurt for someone/something
  • ache
  • ache for
  • ache for (someone or something)
  • aching