Bite off More Than You Can Chew

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Meaning:

Bite off More Than You Can Chew means to take on more than one can deal with, to attempt to do something that one is not capable of accomplishing.

Origin:

The idiom originated in America during the late nineteenth century it is said that it originated when a man offered another man a bite of his plug of chewing tobacco. The warning don’t bite off more than you can chew would remind the receiver not to be greedy.

The first written record of the phrase bite off more than you can chew was in a book named ‘Western Wilds, and the Men Who Redeem Them’ written by John Hanson Beadle which is originally published in 1877, it reads:

"Our folks was all agin the war from the start. I was down as Manchester the day the hauled down the stars an’ stripes, an’ sez I, ‘Men, you’ve bit off more’n you can chaw;’ an’ they laughed at me."

Example:

We still use this phrase today to express that someone has taken on too much work, an example sentence is:

"It feels like I might have bitten off more than I could chew when I promised to complete this video in one day. "

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