chickpea /chikˈpē/

1. A leguminous plant, Cicer arietinum
2. Its edible pea-like seed

chick¹ /chik/

1. The young of fowls, esp of the hen
2. A child, as a term of endearment
3. A girl or young woman (slang)

chickˈen noun

1. The young of birds, esp of the domestic fowl
2. The domestic fowl
3. The flesh of a fowl (not always very young)
4. A prairie chicken
5. A youthful person, esp a girl
6. A faint-hearted person (informal)
7. A type of game, challenge or competition in which physically dangerous or forbidden activities are undertaken until one of the participants loses their nerve (informal)

Cowardly, frightened, scared

To show fear

chickˈling noun

A little chicken

chickˈ-a-biddy or chickˈ-a-diddle noun

Terms of endearment addressed to children

chicken breast noun

1. The breast of a chicken
2. The condition of being pigeon-breasted (qv under pigeon¹)

chickˈenfeed noun

1. Poultry food
2. Small change or a trifling sum of money (informal)
3. Something of little value (informal)

chicken hawk noun (esp US)

1. Any hawk that preys on domestic chickens
2. A male homosexual who seeks out younger partners (slang)

chickˈen-hazard noun

A game at hazard for low stakes

chickˈen-hearted or chickˈen-livered adjective

Timid, cowardly

chickˈenpox noun

A contagious febrile disease, chiefly affecting children, not unlike a mild form of smallpox

chicken run noun

An enclosure for hens

chicken wire noun

Wire netting having a small hexagonal mesh

chick flick noun (derog inf)

A film likely to appeal only to women

chick lit noun ( derog inf)

A type of fiction with themes designed to appeal to young women

chickˈpea noun see separate entry.

chickˈweed noun

1. Any plant of the genus Stellaria, esp S. media, one of the commonest of weeds, much relished by fowls and cage-birds
2. A similar related plant, mouse-ear chickweed, of the genus Cerastium

chickweed wintergreen see wintergreen under winter

chicken-and-egg situation

One in which it is impossible to tell which is the cause and which the effect

chicken out (informal; often with of)

To desert, quit, through losing one's nerve or cowardice

count one's chickens before they are hatched

To plan or act on the basis of expectations or future results without conclusive evidence that they will be fulfilled

like a headless chicken

In a frantic, panic-stricken manner

no (spring) chicken (derogatory or facetious)

No longer young

the chickens have come home to roost see under roost¹

• epistilbite
• epistilbites
• epistle
• epistled
• epistler
• epistlers
• epistles
• epistle side
• epistling
• epistolarian
• epistolarians
• epistolaries
• epistolary
• epistolatory
• epistoler
• epistolers
• epistolet
• epistolets
• epistolic
• epistolical
• epistolise
• epistolised
• epistolises
• epistolising
• epistolist