E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
House and Home.
He hath eaten me out of house and home (Shakespeare: 2 Henry IV., ii. 1). It is the complaint of hostess Quickly to the Lord Chief Justice when he asks for “what sum” she had arrested Sir John Falstaff. She explains the phrase by “he hath put all my substance into that fat belly of his;” “I am undone by his going.”
