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- eat alive
eat alive
eat you alive
1. to cause you to suffer Without my own lawyer, the defendants' lawyers would have eaten me alive in court. The state income tax is just eating me alive, so I think I may move.
2. to bite you repeatedly
The only bad thing about camping by the river was the mosquitoes that ate us alive. Usage notes: used only of insects, as in the example
eat somebody alive
to criticize someone very angrily If we get our facts wrong we'll be eaten alive by the press.
eat (someone) alive
Slang To overwhelm or defeat thoroughly: an inexperienced manager who was eaten alive in a competitive corporate environment.