eager beaver

American  

[ee-ger] / ˈi gər /

noun

1. a person who is excessively diligent or overly zealous.

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eager beaver British  

noun

1. informal a person who displays conspicuous diligence, esp one who volunteers for extra work

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eager beaver Idioms  

1. An exceptionally zealous person, one who habitually takes on more tasks or works harder than others. For example, Bill is a real eager beaver, always volunteering to stay late. This expression became especially popular during World War II, applied to recruits anxious to impress their commanding officers by such behavior. [First half of 1900s]

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Etymology

Origin of eager beaver

An Americanism dating back to 1940–45

Example Sentences

But leaders themselves need to learn from those eager beavers.

From The Wall Street Journal

As the proportion of people who are vaccinated grows, he said, “we’ll have to work proportionally harder to keep advancing these numbers, because the eager beavers go first.”

From Los Angeles Times

At least one eager beaver frequents the lake, as evidenced by a number of trees it has taken out.

From Washington Times

If I looked like one of the eager beaver kids from debate, everything would be different.

From Literature

“When I’m messaging someone and they respond right away I’m like, chill out, eager beaver.”

From New York Times