Eaten me out of house and home: Meaning Then

What was Big Willy Shakes going for?

It might not seem like it, but there's some pretty serious stuff happening here. Falstaff has taken Mistress Quickly's money and run. So when she says he's "eaten her out of house and home," she means that he's eaten so much of her food that she doesn't have anything left. Not even her home.

But then again, her complaints are full of double entendres, which makes her lawsuit seem a bit silly. Perhaps inadvertently, she implies that her legal case and her body are "openly known to the world." She also says she "bears" the burden of Falstaff's debt, with a pun on "bearing" the weight of Falstaff as a sexual partner.

The unintentional bawdiness of her speech is comically exaggerated when she says been "fubbed off, and fubbed off, and fubbed off" and when she orders the officers to "do" their duties on her behalf: "do me, do me, do me," she says.

Mistress Quickly, like her speech, is also totally out of control. Which makes for a very funny scene for those in the know.