bite (one's) nails
1. Literally, to chew on one's fingernails and shorten them. I wish I didn't bite my nails, but it's been such a hard habit to try to break. My sister gets regular manicures to keep from biting her nails.
2. To nervously await something. I've been biting my nails ever since I submitted my application for my first-choice college.
bite one's nails
1. to use one's teeth to remove parts of one's fingernails as a means of shortening them. Stop biting your nails! Use clippers!
2. to literally bite one's nails from nervousness or anxiety; to be nervous or anxious. I spent all afternoon biting my nails, worrying about you. We've all been biting our nails from worry.
bite one's nails
Exhibit signs of anxiety, impatience, or nervousness, as in We'll be biting our nails till the jury comes back. Biting one's fingernails is a time-honored sign of emotional tension. The Roman satirist Horace described it about 35 b.c.: "As he wrought his verse he would often ... gnaw his nails to the quick" ( Satires, Book 1).
bite your ˈnails/ˈfingernails
feel very excited, nervous, or afraid ▶ ˈnail-biting adj. very exciting or tense: What an exciting movie that was — real nail-biting stuff!