chicken

[[t]tʃɪ̱kɪn[/t]]

♦♦♦

chickens, chickening, chickened

1) N-COUNT Chickens are birds which are kept on a farm for their eggs and for their meat.

Lionel built a coop so that they could raise chickens and have a supply of fresh eggs.

...free-range chickens.

Syn:

hen

N-UNCOUNT

Chicken is the flesh of this bird eaten as food.

...roast chicken with wild mushrooms. ...chicken soup.

2) N-COUNT (disapproval) If someone calls you a chicken, they mean that you are afraid to do something. [INFORMAL]

I'm scared of the dark. I'm a big chicken.

Syn:

coward

ADJ-GRADED: v-link ADJ

Chicken is also an adjective.

Why are you so chicken, Gregory?

3) PHRASE: V inflects If you say that someone is counting their chickens, you mean that they are assuming that they will be successful or get something, when this is not certain.

I don't want to count my chickens before they are hatched.

4) PHRASE: PHR n If you describe a situation as a chicken and egg situation, you mean that it is impossible to decide which of two things caused the other one.

It's a chicken and egg situation. Does the deficiency lead to the eczema or has the eczema led to certain deficiencies?

5) PHRASE: V and N inflect If someone is running round like a headless chicken or rushing around like a headless chicken, they are panicking when they should be thinking carefully about what needs to be done. [mainly BRIT]

Instead of running round like a headless chicken use your efforts in a more productive way.

6) chickens come home to roost → see roost

Phrasal Verbs:

- chicken out