English
chin
Pronunciation Noun

chin (plural chins)

  1. The bottom of a face, (specifically) the typically jutting jawline below the mouth.
  2. (slang, US) Talk.
  3. (slang, British) A lie, a falsehood.
  4. (boxing, uncountable) The ability to withstand being punched in the chin without being knocked out.
  5. (aviation) The lower part of the front of an aircraft, below the nose.
    • 1990, Army (volume 40)
      In the cleft of the aircraft's chin is a small turret for a forward-looking infrared (FLIR) "eyeball" that will enable MH-47E pilots to see clearly in complete darkness […]
    • 2001, Aviation Week & Space Technology
      Lockheed Martin's system is mounted behind a transparent, low-observable window blended into the aircraft's chin.
  6. The bottom part of a mobile phone, below the screen.
Synonyms
  • (central area of the jaw, below the mouth) mentum (anatomy)
Antonyms Translations Verb

chin (chins, present participle chinning; past and past participle chinned)

  1. (slang, dated, intransitive) To talk.
    • 1912, Jack London, Smoke Bellew, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, Chapter 5, p. 141,
      “I reckon you can explain, Mrs. Peabody.” […] “An’ I reckon that newcomer you’ve been chinning with could explain if he had a mind to.”
    • 1944, Ernie Pyle, Brave Men, New York: Henry Holt, Chapter 1, p. 3,
      This little chore involved getting up at 3 A.M., working about two hours, then sitting around chinning and drinking coffee with the radio operators until too late to go back to sleep.
  2. (slang, dated, transitive) To talk to or with (someone).
    • 1911, Henry Sydnor Harrison, Queed, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Chapter 7, p. 85,
      “Been up chinning your sporting editor, Ragsy Hurd. […] ”
    • 1912, Nancy Mann Waddel Woodrow, The Black Pearl, New York: Appleton, Chapter 12, p. 239,
      “What do you suppose that Seagreave’s chinning Hughie about[?]”
  3. (reflexive, intransitive) To perform a chin-up exercise in which one lifts one's own weight while hanging from a bar.
    • 1913, Upton Sinclair, The Fasting Cure, New York: Mitchell Kennerley, p. 34,
      It is worth noting that on the eighth day he was strong enough to “chin” himself six times in succession, though previous to the fasting treatment he had never in his life been able to do this more than once or twice.
    • 1922, E. E. Cummings, The Enormous Room, New York: Modern Library, 1949, Chapter 4, p. 80,
      A description of the cour would be incomplete without an enumeration of the manifold duties of the planton in charge, which were as follows: to prevent the men from using the horizontal bar, except for chinning, since if you swung yourself upon it you could look over the wall into the women’s cour […]
    • 1969, Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five, New York: Dial, 2005, Chapter 5, p. 119,
      The Englishmen had also been lifting weights and chinning themselves for years. Their bellies were like washboards. The muscles of their calves and upper arms were like cannonballs.
    • 1986, Martin Cohen, The Marine Corps 3X Fitness Program, Boston: Little, Brown, Part 3, p. 75,
      You can grunt and curse to your heart’s content but you cannot swing your body when chinning.
  4. (chiefly, UK, transitive) To punch or hit (someone)'s chin part of the body.
    • 1915, Ralph Henry Barbour, Left Tackle Thayer, New York: Dodd, Mead, Chapter 14, pp. 183-184,
      He told me once that he used to be scared to death every time he started in a hard game for fear he’d get badly injured. Said it wasn’t until someone had jabbed him in the nose or ‘chinned’ him that he forgot to be scared.
    • 1966, Nell Dunn “OUT with the Boys” in Up the Junction, Philadelphia: Lippincott, p. 88,
      ‘I’m in trouble, I hit a policeman—chinned him. He was messin’ me about, pushin’ me around on the pavement, so I chinned him, didn’t I? […] ’
  5. (transitive) To put or hold (a musical instrument) up to one's chin.
    • 1849, Alfred Billings Street, “General Training,” Graham's Magazine, Volume 35, No. 3, September 1849, p. 137,
      Conspicuous in the front rank of “the music” was Joe Lippett, chinning his fife […]
    • 1925, Arthur Bowie Chrisman, “Four Generals” in Shen of the Sea: Chinese Stories for Children, New York: E.P. Dutton, 1968, p. 82,
      A comical fellow hopped down from a stump and chinned his fiddle while Prince Chang stared.
    • 1951, Gene Fowler, Schnozzola: The Story of Jimmy Durante, New York: Viking, Chapter 16, p. 173,
      Jimmy sat down at the piano, and the scientist tuned, then chinned the violin.
  6. (transitive) To turn on or operate (a device) using one's chin; to select (a particular setting) using one's chin.
    • 1958, Robert Heinlein, Have Space Suit—Will Travel, New York: Del Rey, Chapter 8, p. 160,
      I was too tired to argue; I chinned the valve three or four times, felt a blast blistering my face.
    • 1985, Joe Haldeman, “You Can Never Go Back” in Dealing in Futures, New York: Viking, p. 154,
      I landed kind of sloppily on hands and knees and chinned the squad frequency. “First squad sound off!”
  7. (transitive) To put one's chin on (something).
    • 1977, Ian Wallace (author), The Sign of the Mute Medusa, New York: Popular Library, Chapter 26, p. 243,
      […] she elbowed the table and chinned her hand.
    • 1994, Garry Disher, Crosskill, St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin, Chapter 7, p. 35,
      He chinned the alley fence and looked both ways along it.
  8. (transitive) To indicate or point toward (someone or something) with one's chin.
    • 2004, Han Ong, The Disinherited, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Part 4, Chapter 4, p. 239,
      But you don’t love him, said Madame Sonia with understanding. Do you love this one? Madame Sonia chinned the American.
Synonyms
  • (talk (slang)) gab
Noun

chin (plural chins)

  1. (informal) A chinchilla.
Chin
Proper noun
  1. A hamlet in Alberta, Canada.
Proper noun
  1. Surname of Chinese origin:Alternative form of Chen#English|Chen, Ching, &c.
  2. (obsolete) Alternative form of China#English|China.
Proper noun
  1. A tribe in Burma.
  2. A state of Burma
  3. Synonym of Zo#English|Zo: a language of Burma.


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