what's eating you

Idioms  

1. Also, what's bugging you. What is annoying or bothering you? For example, We've conceded just about every point, so what's eating you now? or You're in a terrible mood—what's bugging you? The first slangy term, dating from the late 1800s, presumably uses eat in the sense of “consume”; the colloquial variant, from about 1940, uses bug in the sense of “annoy.” Also see what's with.

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Example Sentences

“Hey, what’s eating you, Spender? Hey?” they asked.

From "The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury

"Aw, what's eating you?" was his amiable demand.

From The Firefly of France by Angellotti, Marion Polk

"Hello! hello there, Miriam! what's eating you now?" shouted the foreman, emerging and scrambling to his feet as he turned to get Bessie started.

From The Long Day The Story of a New York Working Girl As Told by Herself by Richardson, Dorothy

"Aw, what's eating you?" demanded Tommy, who did not at all understand the situation.

From Boy Scouts on the Great Divide or, The Ending of the Trail by Fletcher, Archibald Lee

"I know what's eating you, old fellow," Will thought to himself.

From The Call of the Beaver Patrol or, A Break in the Glacier by Sherman, V. T.