swallow one's words

Take back what one said, as in If they win I'll have to swallow my words. George Farquhar used this idiom in The Inconstant (1702): "I have swallowed my words already; I have eaten them up." For a synonym, see eat one's words.

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Mahomet	-	Arabic (Anglicized)
Tamara	tah-MAH-rah (Russian, Spanish, Italian), tə-MAHR-ə (English), TAM-ə-rə (English)	Russian, Ukrainian, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian, English, Dutch, S
Vappu	VAHP-poo	Finnish
Lovell	-	English
Arnot	['a:nət]
Rainer	RIE-ner (German)	German, Ancient Germanic