eat someone's lunch
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈiːt ˌsʌmwʌnz ˈlʌnt͡ʃ/
ipa: /-ˈlʌnʃ/
ipa: /ˈit ˌsʌmwʌnz ˈlʌnt͡ʃ/
ipa: /-ˈlʌnʃ/
rhymes: -ʌntʃ
Forms: form: eats someone's lunch
form: eating someone's lunch
form: ate someone's lunch
form: eaten someone's lunch
Etymology: Possibly from the idea of a stronger or quicker person snatching away and eating another person’s lunch before they can consume it.
Senses: examples: text: So in a classic it-ain't-broke-so-let's-fix-it-anyway move, some of our managers and salespeople began complaining that it wasn't written for Windows. […] If we didn't rewrite for Windows, they insisted, our competitors would eat our lunch!
ref: 2006 October 2, “A Disastrous ‘Upgrade’: My Boss Insisted that Creating a Windows Version of Our DOS App would Ensure Our Future”, in Steve Fox, editor, InfoWorld, volume 28, number 40, San Francisco, Calif.: InfoWorld Publishing Co., International Data Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 52, column 1:
text: "I would also suggest to my free enterprise colleagues—especially conservatives here—whether you think it's all a bunch of hooey [i.e., climate change], what we've talked about in this committee, the Chinese don’t," the South Carolina Republican [Bob Inglis] said in his opening remarks. "And they plan on eating our lunch in this next century."
ref: 2010 November 18, Kate Sheppard, “Outgoing GOPer Slams Climate Denying Colleagues”, in Mother Jones, San Francisco, Calif.: Foundation for National Progress, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 Aug 2023:
text: It seemed inevitable: Slither was going to eat our lunch unless we upped our game and out-Slithered Slither. But here's the thing, The Slither Corporation doesn't actually exist. It's our fictive nemesis, our imaginary bad guys. Rather than battling a poorly performing company, we went up against our worst enemy—the company that we knew could put us out of business (if it really existed).
ref: 2011, Josh Linkner, “Gaining the Keys to a Creative Mind and Culture”, in Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity, San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass, Wiley, →ISBN, step 2 (Prepare), page 102:
text: Today, thanks in large part to [Elon] Musk's pace-setting, auto companies from VW to Nissan are jostling to invest billions in electric vehicles. Their about-face is driven less by altruism than by a dawning realization that Musk is eating their lunch.
ref: 2021 December 13, Molly Ball, Jeffrey Kluger, Alejandro de la Garza, “Time 2021 Person of the Year: Elon Musk”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 May 2024:
text: Platforms such as TikTok and Instagram are, indeed, eating traditional comedy’s lunch lately when it comes to funny characters.
ref: 2023 September 27, Spencer Kornhaber, “The Weirdos Living Inside Our Phones”, in Jeffrey Goldberg, editor, The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 30 Dec 2023:
synonyms: word: eat someone for breakfast
word: have someone for breakfast
word: beat
word: bring down
word: chew up
word: eat someone for breakfast
word: eat someone's lunch
word: flog
word: humble
word: kick ass
word: murdelize
word: outfox
word: outguess
word: outrun
word: outsmart
word: outwit
word: overcome
word: overpower
word: overwin
word: own
word: pulverise
word: pwn
word: spank
word: steal the show
word: subdue
word: subvert
word: surmount
word: thrash
word: trounce
word: vanquish
glosses: To best or defeat someone thoroughly; to make short work of.