definitions

bite one's nails

Exhibit signs of anxiety, impatience, or nervousness, as in We'll be biting our nails till the jury comes back. Biting one's fingernails is a time-honored sign of emotional tension. The Roman satirist Horace described it about 35 b.c.: “As he wrought his verse he would often ... gnaw his nails to the quick” (Satires, Book 1).

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RELATED WORDS

annoy, depress, disturb, unsettle, perturb, bother, upset, irritate, try, plague, trouble, fret, distress, afflict, beleaguer, agonize, importune, beset, torment, brood

Nearby words

bite, bite analysis, bite back, bite gauge, bite off more than one can chew, bite one's nails, bite one's tongue, bite someone's head off, bite the bullet, bite the dust, bite the hand that feeds you
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.