English
chicken
see also: Chicken
Pronunciation
  • (RP, GA) enPR: chĭk'ĭn, IPA: /ˈt͡ʃɪkɪn/
Noun

chicken

  1. (countable) A domestic fowl, Gallus gallus, especially when young.
    • 1997, Beverley Randell, Clive Harper, Chickens, Nelson Thornes (ISBN 9781869556945), page 8:
      Some chickens lay eggs almost every day. […] Chickens are kept for their meat, too.
  2. (uncountable) The meat from this bird eaten as food.
    • 1995, Jean Paré, Chicken, Etc., Company's Coming Publishing Limited (ISBN 9781895455403), page 7:
      Before cooking chicken, or other poultry, rinse with cold water and pat dry with a paper towel.
  3. (countable, slang) A coward.
    • 2008, Lanakila Michael Achong, Haole Boy: The Adoption of Diversity, iUniverse (ISBN 9781440108310), page 44:
      Usually, I had no problem approaching girls, but this one was different. I went home and berated myself for being such a chicken.
  4. (countable, slang) A young or inexperienced person.
    • 1886, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Lauriston Garden Mystery”, in A Study in Scarlet (Beeton's Christmas Annual; 28th season), London; New York, N.Y.: Ward Lock & Co., November 1887, OCLC 15800088 ↗; republished as A Study in Scarlet. A Detective Story, new edition, London: Ward, Lock, Bowden, and Co., 1892, OCLC 23246292 ↗, page 43 ↗:
      "This case will make a stir, sir," he remarked. "It beats anything I have seen, and I am no chicken."
  5. (countable, Polari) A young, attractive, slim man, usually having little body hair; compare chickenhawk.
  6. The game of dare#Noun|dare.
    1. A confrontational game in which the participants move toward each other at high speed (usually in automobiles); the player who turns first to avoid colliding into the other is the chicken (that is, the loser).
      Don't play chicken with a freight train; you're guaranteed to lose.
  7. A simple dance in which the movements of a chicken are imitated.
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Adjective

chicken

  1. (informal) Cowardly.
    Why do you refuse to fight? Huh, I guess you're just too chicken.
Verb

chicken (chickens, present participle chickening; past and past participle chickened)

  1. (intransitive) To avoid a situation one is afraid of.
Noun
  1. (UK dialectal or obsolete) plural form of chick
Chicken
Proper noun
  1. A census-designated place in Alaska.


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