He must apologise, he saw that clearly enough, must eat crow, as he told himself.

The Nationals started with Jerome Herman ("Dizzy") Dean, who reveled in striking out Lou Gehrig in the first inning. Gehrig made Dean eat crow in the third inning by smashing a home run.

In political libel, furthermore, a public recanting by the vilifier is more likely to be believed by the public, for it is well known that no politician likes to "eat crow" unless he has to.

[Alison] Roman, now typical for such cases, ate crow with an apologetic statement about how she had reflected and realized her error.

Eat crow

Meaning

Verb