What's Eating You


The meaning of the idiom what's eating (someone) is making a person angry or upset. It often appears in the form of a question, as in “what's eating you?” But it can also be used in other ways. It is related to the idiom eating away at, where eat means bother or make angry.

Example #1:  What's eating you, anyway? I do everything I can to please you, and you're still in a bad mood and angry at the world for some reason.

Example #2:  I don't know what was eating him, but all of a sudden he started yelling at the players and the fans and stomped off the basketball court.

Example #3:  If you really want to find out what's eating her, just ask—sometimes a direct approach is much better than guessing.

Example #4:  I felt mad, anxious, fearful, and sad, and I wasn't sure what was eating me—so I made an appointment with my doctor to figure it out.