Eat your heart out...

[Bbbananas]

I've just used that expression to someone, but not sure if I've used it correctly. Where did the expression come from does anyone know?

[Bobbisox]

when something gnaws at you and breaks your heart?

[Bbbananas]

I've just checked, and I have used it in the right context. It's a strange thing to say though isn't it?

"Intended to make someone feel bitterness or pain as they long for something out of reach".

[Bobbisox]

so I was almost right?

[rowanwitch]

Eat your heart out
The ancients believed that sorrow or envy were bad for the heart, and would eat away at it, each sigh draining blood from the organ. This idea made its way to England and became well established - Shakespeare often refers to it, as in, 'Might liquid tears, of heart-offending groans, / Or blood-consuming sighs recall his life, / I would be blind with weeping, sick with groans, / Look pale as primrose with blood-drinking sighs' (Henry VI, part 2, III.ii). We still describe someone as broken-hearted by grief. By the beginning of the 20th century, to eat your heart out was well-established as a term for pining; but more recently, it has also been used as a cry of triumph when someone else has cause to envy the speaker

Found in a phrase dctionary online...

[Bbbananas]

Thanks girls. x