chip
/t͡ʃɪp/ noun, verb, proper noun
- noun A small piece broken from a larger piece of solid material. “The floor of the sculptor's studio was strewn with chips of marble.”
- noun A damaged area of a surface where a small piece has been broken off. “This cup has a chip in it.”
- noun (games, gambling) A token used in place of cash.
- noun A medallion.
- noun (slang, dated) A sovereign (the coin).
- noun (electronics) A circuit fabricated in one piece on a small, thin substrate; a microchip.
- noun (electronics) A hybrid device mounted in a substrate, containing electronic circuitry and miniaturised mechanical, chemical or biochemical devices.
- noun (UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, archaic in Canada, usually in the plural) A deep-fried strip of potato; see also usage note at French fries. “Do you want ketchup, mustard, or mayonnaise on your chips?”
- verb (transitive) To chop or cut into small pieces. “The workers chipped the dead branches into mulch.”
- verb (transitive) To break small pieces from. “Be careful not to chip the paint.”
- verb (intransitive) To become chipped. “This varnish chips easily.”
- verb (transitive, dialectal) To chisel (something), to chisel on (something). “The fitter was chipping and filing a workpiece clamped in his vise.”
- verb (intransitive, dialectal) To use a chisel. “The fitters were chipping and filing furiously to meet their deadline.”
- verb (transitive, sports) To strike or play (the ball or other implement) as a chip shot.
- verb (transitive, sports such as soccer) To beat (an opposing player) by use of a chip shot, such as by looping the ball over the head of the opposing goalkeeper.
- verb (transitive, billiards) To move (a ball) a relatively short distance by means of an oblique contact. “In potting the black, he also managed to chip the red off the side cushion.”
- verb (UK, slang, intransitive) To leave.
- proper noun A diminutive of the male given names Christopher and Charles.
- proper noun A nickname used for males who are second-generation namesakes.
- noun An officer of the California Highway Patrol.
Synonyms
flake fragment bit chunk tranche clip crumb crumbling cutting fleak hunk lump mammock ort piece piecemeal portion scrap scraplet slice fleck cow chip cow dung buffalo chip crisp potato chip Saratoga chip check poker chip microchip
Etymology
Noun from Middle English chip, chippe, from Old English ċipp (“chip; small piece of wood, shaving”), from Old English *ċippian (“to cut; hew”) – attested in Old English forċippian (“to cut off”) –, from Proto-West Germanic *kippōn (“to cut; carve; hack; chop”), from Proto-Germanic *kippōną (“to chip, chop”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵeyb- (“to split; divide; germinate; sprout”). Related to Dutch kip, keep (“notch; nick; score”), Dutch kippen (“to hatch”), German Low German kippen (“to cut; clip; trim; shorten”), German kipfen (“to chop off the tip; snip”), Old Swedish kippa (“to chop”). Compare also chop.
The formally similar Old English ċipp, ċypp, ċyp (“a beam; log; stock; post”), from Proto-Germanic *kippaz (“log; beam”) (whence Old Saxon kip (“post”), Old High German kipfa, chipfa (“axle, stave”), Old Norse keppr (“cudgel, club”)) is a different, unrelated word either borrowed from Latin cippus (“stake; pale; post”) or borrowed from the same source language as the Latin.
Verb from Middle English chippen, from Old English *ċippian (“to cut; hew”) – attested in Old English forċippian (“to cut off”) – see above.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To cut small pieces from; to diminsh or reduce to shape, by cutting away a little at a time; to hew. Shak.
- verb To break or crack, or crack off a portion of, as of an eggshell in hatching, or a piece of crockery.
- verb To break or fly off in small pieces.
- noun A piece of wood, stone, or other substance, separated by an ax, chisel, or cutting instrument.
Etymology [Cf. G. kippen to cut off the edge, to clip, pare. Cf. Chop to cut.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “chip”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details