bite off more than one can chew

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

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.

   Synonym: cut off more than one can chew

   I think I bit off more than I could chew when I agreed to paint this house by myself.

Usage notes

• Often used as a caution: "don't bite off more than you can chew".

Translations

to try to do too much

• Arabic: قَضَمَ أَكْثَرَ مِمَّا يَسْتَطِيعُ مَضَغَهُ m (qaḍama ʔakṯara mimmā yastaṭīʕu maḍaḡahu)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 眼闊肚窄／眼阔肚窄 (ngaan⁵ fut³ tou⁵ zaak³)

  Mandarin: 貪多嚼不爛／贪多嚼不烂 (zh) (tān duō jiáo bú làn), 好高騖遠／好高骛远 (hào gāo wù yuǎn)

• Czech: ukousnout si příliš velké sousto
• Dutch: te veel hooi op de vork nemen
• Finnish: haukata liian iso pala
• French: avoir les yeux plus gros que le ventre (fr), charger la barque (fr)
• German: sich übernehmen
• Italian: fare il passo più lungo della gamba
• Norwegian: gape over for mye, ta seg vann over hodet
• Persian: لقمه گنده‌تر از دهن (loqme-ye gonde-tar az dahan) (colloquial)
• Polish: porywać się z motyką na słońce (pl) impf
• Portuguese: dar um passo maior do que a perna, ter mais olhos que barriga
• Russian: переоцени́ть свои́ си́лы pf (pereocenítʹ svoí síly)
• Spanish: abarcar más de lo que se puede, pasarse de listo
• Swedish: ta sig vatten över huvudet (sv)

See also

• dog that caught the car
• have eyes bigger than one's stomach
• grasp all, lose all
• eat an elephant one bite at a time
• too many balls in the air
• too much on one's plate