Verb
have eyes bigger than one's stomach (third-person singular simple present has eyes bigger than one's stomach, present participle having eyes bigger than one's stomach, simple past and past participle had eyes bigger than one's stomach)
- (idiomatic) To take more food on one's plate than one can eat; to be greedy.
He has eyes bigger than his stomach.
You have eyes bigger than your stomach.
- (idiomatic) To want more than one can handle.
2010, Veechi Curtis, Lynley Averis, Bookkeeping For Dummies, page 75:When choosing software, don't have eyes bigger than your stomach. Rather, stick to whatever level of software you need, and no more.
Translations
take more food than one can eat
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 眼闊肚窄 / 眼阔肚窄 (ngaan5 fut3 tou5 zaak3)
- Mandarin: 眼大肚子小 (yǎn dà dùzi xiǎo), 眼饞肚飽 / 眼馋肚饱 (zh) (yǎnchándùbǎo)
- Dutch: ogen groter dan je maag hebben
- Finnish: olla isommat silmät kuin vatsa
- French: avoir les yeux plus gros que le ventre (fr)
- German: die Augen sind größer als der Magen (literally “the eyes are bigger than the stomach”)
- Hungarian: nagyobb a szeme, mint a szája (hu) (literally “his/her eyes are bigger than his/her mouth”); (also with gyomra, stomach, instead of szája, mouth)
- Italian: avere gli occhi più grandi dello stomaco
- Maltese: għandu għajnejh akbar minn żaqqu
- Norwegian: øynene er større enn magen, magen blir fortere mett enn øynene (literally “the stomach loses its appetite before the eyes do”)
- Polish: wziąć za dużo jedzenia pf
- Portuguese: ter os olhos maiores que a boca, ter mais olhos que barriga (literally “have more eyes than belly”)
- Russian: одни́ глаза́ не сы́ты (ru) (odní glazá ne sýty)
- Scottish Gaelic: is motha mo shùil na mo bhrù (literally “my eye is bigger than my stomach”)
- Serbo-Croatian: imati veće oči nego dupe (literally “have eyes bigger than one’s ass”); (also euphemistically with želudac (“stomach”) or usta (“mouth”) instead of dupe (“ass”))
- Spanish: antes se llena el cuajo que el ojo (rare)
- Ukrainian: очима все з’їв би (očyma vse zʺjiv by)
- Uzbek: ko'z qornidan ochroq
- Vietnamese: con mắt lớn hơn cái bụng, no bụng đói con mắt, mắt to hơn bụng
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