This idiom means to admit you were wrong or to suffer humiliation by acknowledging a mistake, often publicly. It implies swallowing one’s pride, likened to eating something unpalatable like crow, a bird considered undesirable. The phrase is used in personal, professional, or political contexts to describe the discomfort of retracting statements or facing consequences, often with a rueful or mocking tone. It underscores the cultural value of accountability but also the embarrassment of being proven wrong.

The phrase originated in 19th-century America, likely from a Civil War-era anecdote where a Union soldier was forced to eat crow by Confederate captors, symbolizing defeat. The story, possibly apocryphal, was printed in an 1877 *Atlanta Constitution* article. Earlier, ‘eat crow’ appeared in an 1851 *San Francisco Picayune* piece as slang for accepting defeat. The idiom gained traction during Reconstruction, reflecting tensions over pride and reconciliation, and was used by Mark Twain in *Life on the Mississippi* (1883). Its vivid imagery and relevance to public accountability ensured its spread in American English, later adopted globally.