eat it and beat it
v. phr.— « Whatever happened to the local colloquial term for running out on a restaurant tab—“chew ‘n’ screw”? Or the more universal phrase: “eat it & beat it.”» —“IHOP loses bid to get drop on deadbeats” by Howie Carr Boston Herald (Massachusetts) Dec. 1, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Ash in Huntsville, Alabama, wonders about the phrase all stove up, which is how his body feels after a long day’s work. It comes from the expression to stave in, meaning “to smash in,” as when something smashes in the staves of a barrel. This...
Sam in St. Charles, Illinois, says that when he mentioned a big old water tower nearby, his mother corrected him, saying the water tower wasn’t old, it was new. Can’t you use big old or big ol’ in that way? Of course you can! The...