<B>chicken</B> (1), noun, adjective, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>any hen or rooster. <BR> <I>Ex. Most of our chickens lay two to three eggs per day.</I> <DD><B> 2a. </B>a young hen or rooster; chick. <BR> <I>Ex. Our new chickens are too young to lay eggs.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>any young bird. <BR> <I>Ex. The grouse flew at the fox to protect her chickens.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>the flesh of a chicken used for food. <BR> <I>Ex. We all ate the crisp fried chicken.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>(Figurative.) <DD><B> a. </B>a young person, especially one who is inexperienced. <BR> <I>Ex. He must have been well forward in years--or at all events, as they say, no chicken (E. Walford).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(Slang.) a young woman or girl; chick. <DD><B> 5. </B>(Slang.) <DD><B> a. </B>(Figurative.) a person who is afraid, especially one who is cowardly. <BR> <I>Ex. "You'd think we didn't have fighters or atom bombs. To them we seem like chickens" (Wall Street Journal).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>a dare or challenge to do something dangerous as a test of courage, viewed as a game. <BR> <I>Ex. The motorists were always playing "chicken." One driver will challenge another by refusing to give way before him (New Yorker). The Kenya Opposition party appears to be challenging the Government to a game of chicken (Manchester Guardian Weekly).</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>(U.S. Slang.) petty discipline; unnecessary duties, especially in the armed forces. <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>young; small. <BR> <I>Ex. a chicken lobster.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Slang, Figurative.) afraid of risk; cowardly. <BR> <I>Ex. "When they asked me to go along with them, I had to," a gang member explained. "If I didn't go along, they'd know I was chicken and I couldn't live around here any more" (Newsweek).</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>chicken out,</B> (Slang.) to behave in a cowardly manner, especially to refuse a dare. <BR> <I>Ex. It is a point of honor not to "chicken out" on anything the gang does (Newsweek).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B></B>(<B>have one's</B>) <B>chickens come home to roost,</B> </I>(have) something bad result from one's own actions; (receive) something asked for or deserved. <BR> <I>Ex. That the ... sales should be threatened by a competitor which uses the Swallow wing [that he rejected] is a somewhat bitter instance of chickens coming home to roost (New Scientist).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>count one's chickens</B> (<B>before they are hatched</B>),</I> to trust or count on something as a certainty before it has actually happened. <BR> <I>Ex. Some have been suffering with stuffy, runny noses ... Others (although they would not be wise to count their chickens) were surprisingly symptom-free (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="chicken">
<B>chicken</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (in India) embroidery. </DL>
<A NAME="chickenandegg">
<B>chicken-and-egg, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> involving the dilemma of not knowing which of two things is the cause and which the effect. <BR> <I>Ex. The chicken-and-egg argument over slave status and race prejudice--which came first and which caused which ... (Harper's).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="chickenbreast">
<B>chicken breast,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a malformed projection of the breastbone, often associated with rickets; pigeon breast. </DL>
<A NAME="chickenbreasted">
<B>chicken-breasted, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having chicken breast. </DL>
<A NAME="chickencacciatore">
<B>chicken cacciatore,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> pieces of chicken cooked in a sauce with tomato paste and wine. </DL>
<A NAME="chickencholera">
<B>chicken cholera,</B> =fowl cholera.</DL>
<A NAME="chickencolonel">
<B>chicken colonel,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Slang.) a full colonel, whose insigne is an eagle (as distinguished from a lieutenant colonel, whose insigne is a leaf). </DL>
<A NAME="chickenfeed">
<B>chicken feed,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Especially U.S. Slang.) <DD><B> 1. </B>a trifling amount of money; small coins. <DD><B> 2. </B>any small undertaking. <BR> <I>Ex. The export of U.S. poultry to Europe's Common Market is chicken feed in terms of the total trade (Wall Street Journal).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="chickenfixings">
<B>chicken fixings,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Informal.) <DD><B> 1. </B>chicken prepared for eating, as contrasted with less esteemed food. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) anything nice or better than usual in the way of food. <BR> <I>Ex. We don't have any of your chicken fixings nor little three-cornered handkerchiefs laid out at each plate (Mary J. Holmes).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="chickenhawk">
<B>chicken hawk,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>any one of certain hawks that raid poultry yards, such as the sharp-shinned hawk of North America; bird hawk; hen hawk. <DD><B> 2. </B>a person who favors war but avoids military service. <BR> <I>Ex. The most contemptible group of all consists of chicken hawks who beat the war drums but find one excuse after another not to risk their own skins (Wall Street Journal).</I> </DL>
<B>chicken hazard,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a game with dice. </DL>
<A NAME="chickenhearted">
<B>chicken-hearted, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> timid; cowardly. <BR> <I>Ex. Small thanks to you big, hulking, chicken-hearted men (Robert Louis Stevenson).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="chickenlettuce">
<B>chicken lettuce,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> lettuce grown by farmers to feed poultry and rabbits. </DL>
<B>chicken louse,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any one of several parasitic insects related to bird lice, that infest poultry and pheasants. </DL>
<A NAME="chickenmite">
<B>chicken mite,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a mite that burrows into the skin of fowls, causing loss of vigor and development; chicken tick. Sometimes they infest human beings, causing acariasis. </DL>
<A NAME="chickenpaprika">
<B>chicken paprika,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> chicken spiced with onions and paprika, fried in a pan. </DL>
<A NAME="chickenplover">
<B>chicken plover,</B> =ruddy turnstone.</DL>
<A NAME="chickenpox">
<B>chickenpox</B> or <B>chicken pox,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a mild, contagious disease of children, accompanied by a rash on the skin; varicella. Chickenpox is a viral disease. </DL>
<A NAME="chickensnake">
<B>chicken snake,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> one of several American snakes which eat chickens and eggs; rat snake. </DL>
<A NAME="chickenswitch">
<B>chicken switch,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Slang.) a switch that releases a rocket with which the pilot of an aborted flight can escape from the aircraft or space vehicle. </DL>
<A NAME="chickenthief">
<B>chicken thief,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Informal.) <DD><B> 1. </B>a petty thief; pilferer. <DD><B> 2. </B>a river boat formerly used for small retail trading, so called because its presence encouraged the stealing of chickens and other goods. </DL>
<A NAME="chickentick">
<B>chicken tick,</B> =chicken mite.</DL>
<A NAME="chickenwire">
<B>chicken wire,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a light wire netting with mesh of about one inch, used extensively on farms as fence material. <BR> <I>Ex. One strip of the mesa was fenced off with chicken wire (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="chicklet">
<B>chicklet, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Slang.) a young woman or girl. <BR> <I>Ex. There is some show-stopping (if irrelevant) footwork by a trio of pretty chicklets (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="chickling">
<B>chickling, </B>noun, or <B>chickling vetch,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a European vetch cultivated for its edible seeds, and also used as a forage plant. </DL>
<A NAME="chickpea">
<B>chickpea, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>an annual plant of the pea family. Its short, puffy pods contain pealike seeds which are used for food. <DD><B> 2. </B>one of these seeds. </DL>
<A NAME="chickweed">
<B>chickweed, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a common weed with small white flowers. Chickweed belongs to the pink family. The leaves and seeds of many kinds are eaten by birds. </DL>
<A NAME="chicle">
<B>chicle, </B>noun, or <B>chicle gum,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a tasteless, gummy substance used in making chewing gum. It is the milky juice of the sapodilla tree of tropical America, boiled and kneaded to take out the water. </DL>
<A NAME="chicly">
<B>chicly, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> in a chic manner; stylishly. </DL>
<A NAME="chicness">
<B>chicness, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> chic quality or condition; elegance; style. </DL>
<A NAME="chico">
<B>chico, </B>noun, pl. <B>-cos.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Western U.S.) the greasewood, a stiff, prickly shrub growing in alkaline regions. </DL>
<A NAME="chicom">
<B>Chicom, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) Chinese Communist. </DL>
<A NAME="chicory">
<B>chicory, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ries.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a plant with blue, pink, or white flowers, whose leaves are used for salad. Chicory belongs to the composite family. <DD><B> 2. </B>a plant of the same genus with bright-blue flowers; succory. <DD><B> 3. </B>its root, roasted and used as a substitute for coffee or for mixing with coffee. <DD><B> 4. </B>(British.) endive. Also, <B>chiccory.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="chid">
<B>chid, </B>verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> chided; a past tense and a past participle of <B>chide.</B> <BR> <I>Ex. Only yesterday the foreman chid him for being late. How churlishly I chid Lucetta hence! (Shakespeare).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="chidden">
<B>chidden, </B>verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> chided; a past participle of <B>chide.</B> <BR> <I>Ex. Vain desire was chidden (Anthony Munday).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="chide">
<B>chide, </B>verb, <B>chided,</B> or <B>chid,</B> <B>chided,</B> <B>chid,</B> or <B>chidden,</B> <B>chiding.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> to find fault with; blame; scold; reproach. <BR> <I>Ex. The waitress chided me for knocking my glass on the restaurant floor.</I> (SYN) rebuke, reprove, reprimand. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to find fault; speak in rebuke. <BR> <I>Ex. The old caretaker was always scolding and chiding.</I> (SYN) rebuke, reprove, reprimand. noun <B>chider.</B> adv. <B>chidingly.</B> </DL>
