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

See Examples For:

what's eating you

“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 Marion Polk Angellotti

"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 Dorothy Richardson

"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 Archibald Lee Fletcher

"I—I 'ain't got much of anything to say, Max, except I—I thought maybe you'd tell me what's eating you, dearie."

From Every Soul Hath Its Song by Fannie Hurst