Eating crow is a colloquial idiom,[1] used in some English-speaking countries, that means humiliation by admitting having been proven wrong after taking a strong position.[2] The crow is a carrion-eater that is presumably repulsive to eat in the same way that being proven wrong might be emotionally hard to swallow.[2] The exact origin of the idiom is unknown, but it probably began with an American story published around 1850 about a dim-witted New York farmer.[3]
Eating crow is of a family of idioms having to do with eating and being proven incorrect, such as to "eat dirt", to "eat your hat" (or shoe), or to put one's foot in mouth; all probably originating from "to eat one's words", which first appears in print in 1571 in one of John Calvin's tracts on Psalm 62: "God eateth not his words when he hath once spoken".[2]
An Australian demonym for South Australian people is croweater but it does not carry the same idiomatic meaning as eating crow.