chicken

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:
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:
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 roostsee roost
Phrasal Verbs:

English dictionary. 2008.

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Look at other dictionaries:

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  • chicken — (n.) O.E. cicen young fowl, which in M.E. came to mean young chicken, then any chicken, from W.Gmc. *kiukinam (Cf. M.Du. kiekijen, Du. kieken, O.N. kjuklingr, Swed. kyckling, Ger. Küken chicken ), from root *keuk (echoic of the bird s sound and… …   Etymology dictionary

  • chicken — [chik′ən] n. [ME chicken < OE cycen < WGmc * kiukina < * kiuk ; like COCK1, of echoic orig.; akin to MLowG kûken (Du kuiken, kieken)] 1. a common gallinaceous farm bird (Gallus domesticus) raised for its edible eggs or flesh; hen or… …   English World dictionary

  • chicken — ► NOUN 1) a domestic fowl kept for its eggs or meat, especially a young one. 2) a coward. 3) informal a game in which the first person to lose their nerve and withdraw from a dangerous situation is the loser. ► ADJECTIVE informal ▪ cowardly. ►… …   English terms dictionary

  • Chicken — bezeichnet einen Ort in Alaska, siehe Chicken (Alaska) eine Implementierung der Programmiersprache Scheme, siehe Chicken (Scheme) Chicken ist der Familienname von Ludwig Chicken (* 1915), Alpinist und Arzt Siehe auch: Schicken …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Chicken — Chick en, n. [AS. cicen, cyceun, dim. of coc cock; akin to LG. kiken, k[ u]ken, D. Kieken, kuiken, G. k[ u]chkein. See {Cock} the animal.] 1. A young bird or fowl, esp. a young barnyard fowl. [1913 Webster] 2. A young person; a child; esp. a… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Chicken (EP) — Chicken EP by Ednaswap Released 1996 Recorded 1995 Genre Hard rock, Post grunge …   Wikipedia

  • Chicken — Chicken, AK U.S. Census Designated Place in Alaska Population (2000): 17 Housing Units (2000): 21 Land area (2000): 115.411025 sq. miles (298.913169 sq. km) Water area (2000): 0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km) Total area (2000): 115.411025 sq …   StarDict's U.S. Gazetteer Places

  • Chicken, AK — U.S. Census Designated Place in Alaska Population (2000): 17 Housing Units (2000): 21 Land area (2000): 115.411025 sq. miles (298.913169 sq. km) Water area (2000): 0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km) Total area (2000): 115.411025 sq. miles… …   StarDict's U.S. Gazetteer Places

  • chicken — chicken. См. chicken. (Источник: «Англо русский толковый словарь генетических терминов». Арефьев В.А., Лисовенко Л.А., Москва: Изд во ВНИРО, 1995 г.) …   Молекулярная биология и генетика. Толковый словарь.

  • chicken — [n1] person afraid to try something coward, craven, dastard, funk, poltroon, quitter, recreant, scaredy cat*, yellow belly*; concept 423 chicken [n2] farm fowl banty, barnyard fowl, biddy, capon, chick, cock, cock a doodle do*, cockalorum,… …   New thesaurus

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