chivvy
Pronunciation
  • (RP, GA) IPA: /ˈtʃɪvi/
Verb

chivvy (chivvies, present participle chivvying; past and past participle chivvied)

  1. (transitive, Britain) To coerce or hurry#Verb|hurry along, as by persistent request#Noun|request. [from late 18th c.]
    • 1889, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Of the Swordsman with the Brown Jacket”, in Micah Clarke: […], London: Longmans, Green, and Co […], OCLC 729680187 ↗, page 316 ↗:
      Odd's wouns! it was a proper hunt. Away went my gentlemen, whooping like madmen, with their coat skirts flapping in the breeze, chivying on the dogs and having a rare morning's sport.
  2. (transitive, Britain) To subject#Verb|subject to harassment or verbal abuse#Noun|abuse.
    • 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, “Stop Him!”, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, OCLC 999756093 ↗, page 447 ↗:
      He wos allus willin fur to give me somethink he wos, though Mrs. Sangsby she was allus a chivying on me—like everybody everywheres.
    • 1898, W[illiam] W[ymark] Jacobs, “Pickled Herring”, in Sea Urchins, London: Lawrence and Bullen, Ltd. […], OCLC 477208446 ↗, page 160 ↗:
      "They're chevying that poor animal [a dog] again," he said hotly. "It's scandalous." / "Rupert can take care of himself," said the mate calmly, continuing his meal. "I expect, if the truth's known, it's him 's been doin' the chevying."
  3. (transitive, Britain) To sneak up on or rapidly approach#Verb|approach.
  4. (transitive, Britain) To pursue as in a hunt#Noun|hunt. [from mid 19th c.]
    Synonyms: chase, hunt
    to chivvy the fox
    • 1893 (indicated as 1894), A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Naval Treaty”, in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, London: George Newnes, Limited, […], OCLC 4828780 ↗, page 215 ↗:
      [I]t seemed rather a piquant thing to us to chevy him about the playground and hit him over the shins with a wicket.
Translations
  • Russian: досажда́ть
Noun

chivvy (plural chivvies)

  1. (Britain) Something that encourages one to act#Verb|act; a goad#Noun|goad, a spur#Noun|spur.



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