chew
UK /tʃuː/ · US /t͡ʃ(j)u/ verb, noun, proper noun
Forms chews chewing chewed chewn
- verb To crush with the teeth by repeated closing and opening of the jaws; done to food to soften it and break it down by the action of saliva before it is swallowed. “Make sure to chew thoroughly, and don't talk with your mouth full!”
- verb To grind, tear, or otherwise degrade or demolish something with teeth or as with teeth. “He keeps his feed in steel drums to prevent the mice from chewing holes in the feed-sacks.”
- verb (uncountable, informal) The condition of something being torn or ground up mechanically.
- verb (informal) To think about something; to ponder; to chew over. “The professor stood at the blackboard, chalk in hand, and chewed the question the student had asked.”
- verb To chew tobacco. “To reduce cancer risk, it is best that you neither chew nor smoke.”
- noun The act of chewing; mastication with the mouth. “I popped the gum into my mouth and gave it a chew.”
- noun Level of chewiness.
- noun A small sweet, such as a taffy, that is eaten by chewing. “Phillip purchased a bag of licorice chews at the drugstore.”
- noun (informal, uncountable) Chewing tobacco. “The school had banned chew and smokes from the school grounds, even for adults.”
- noun (countable) A plug or wad of chewing tobacco; chaw or a chaw. “The ballplayers sat on the bench watching the rain, glumly working their chews.”
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun A river in Somerset, England.
Synonyms
bite chavel chomp crunch masticate grind pulverize rip shred tear contemplate ruminate mull muse ponder chaw cud quid plug wad chewing mastication manduction manducate jaw
Etymology
From Middle English chewen, from Old English ċēowan, from Proto-West Germanic *keuwan, from Proto-Germanic *kewwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵyewh₁-. Cognate with West Frisian kôgje, Low German käwwen, Dutch kauwen, German kauen; also Latin gingīva (“gums”), Tocharian B śuwaṃ (“to eat”), Polish żuć (“to chew”), Persian جویدن (javidan), Pashto ژُوَل (žovạl, “to bite, gnaw”).
From Middle English chew, cheu, icheu, from Old English *ċēaw, *ġeċēaw (“chewing”), from Proto-West Germanic *kauw, *gakauw (“chewing”), from Proto-Germanic *kewwaną (“to chew”). Cognate with obsolete Dutch kauw (“chewing”), Dutch gekauw (“chewing”), West Frisian gekau (“chewing”).
* As an English surname, Chew has a number of separate origins:
** A toponymic surname referring to a place in Billington, Lancashire. It was originally spelled Cho, from Middle English cho, which is possibly a descendant of Old English *cēo (“gill”), denoting a ravine.
** A toponymic surname referring to Chew Magna or Chew Stoke in Somerset, England.
** A nickname from Old English ċīo, ċēo, which refers to smaller chattering species of crow, in particular the red-billed chough.
* As a Chinese surname, borrowed from Hokkien 周 (Chiu), Teochew 周 (ziu1), Cantonese 趙／赵 (ziu6), etc.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To bite and grind with the teeth; to masticate.
- verb To ruminate mentally; to meditate on. He chews revenge, abjuring his offense. Prior.
- verb To perform the action of biting and grinding with the teeth; to ruminate; to meditate.
- noun That which is chewed; that which is held in the mouth at once; a cud. [Law]
Etymology [As ceówan, akin to D. kauwen, G. kauen. Cf. Chaw, Jaw.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “chew”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details