chew the scenery
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English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Its earliest reference is listed in the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang as being used by Mary Hallock Foote in Coeur D'Alene in 1894.[1]
Pronunciation[edit]
Audio (AU) (file)
Verb[edit]
chew the scenery (third-person singular simple present chews the scenery, present participle chewing the scenery, simple past and past participle chewed the scenery)
- (idiomatic, performing arts) To display excessive emotion or to act in an exaggerated manner while performing; to be melodramatic; to be flamboyant.
- 1989 November 27, David Denby, “A Farewell to Arms [review of Steel Magnolias]”, in New York Magazine[2]:
- The way the six stars chew the scenery is nothing compared to their abuse of one another.
- 2006 October 11, James Poniewozik, “Fall TV Preview”, in Time:
- Starring as a Great White Hope police commissioner sent to clean up Washington, D.C., Nelson displays a set of pipes barely hinted at in his years on "Coach," spending the long pilot hour barking, bloviating, singing(!) and generally chewing the scenery.
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
To perform in an excessively emotional or exaggerated manner
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References[edit]
- Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang