acknowledge the corn

Meaning

Verb

• To admit to the truth of the point at issue or to a mistake; to cop a plea; or perhaps to admit to a small error but not a larger one.

Origin

• An American expression. In a Congressional debate in 1828 one of the states which claimed to export corn admitted that the corn was actually used to feed hogs, and exported in that form. - Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable 1970 Centenary Edition.