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chicken out

 - 5 dictionary results

chick⋅en

  [chik-uhn]
Use chicken out in a Sentence
–noun
1. a domestic fowl, Gallus domesticus, descended from various jungle fowl of southeastern Asia and developed in a number of breeds for its flesh, eggs, and feathers.
2. the young of this bird, esp. when less than a year old.
3. the flesh of the chicken, esp. of the young bird, used as food.
4. Informal. a young or inexperienced person, esp. a young girl.
5. Slang.
a. a cowardly or fearful person.
b. petty details or tasks.
c. unnecessary discipline or regulations.
d. a young male homosexual, esp. one sought as a sexual partner by older men.
6. a contest in which two cars approach each other at high speed down the center of a road, the object being to force one's opponent to veer away first.
7. a policy or strategy of challenging an opponent to risk a clash or yield: diplomats playing chicken at the conference table.
–adjective
8. (of food) containing, made from, or having the flavor of chicken: chicken salad; chicken soup.
9. Slang.
a. cowardly.
b. petty or trivial: a chicken regulation.
c. obsessed with petty details, regulations, etc.: He's quitting this chicken outfit to become his own boss.
—Verb phrase
10. chicken out, Slang.
a. to refrain from doing something because of fear or cowardice: I chickened out when I saw how deep the water was.
b. to renege or withdraw: You can't chicken out of this business deal now.
—Idiom
11. count one's chickens before they are hatched, to rely on a benefit that is still uncertain: They were already spending in anticipation of their inheritance, counting their chickens before they were hatched.
Origin:
bef. 950; 1605–15 for def. 5a; 1940–45 for def. 7; ME chiken, OE cīcen; akin to MD kieken (D kuiken), LG küken
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Slang Dictionary
chicken

  1. n.
    a coward. : Come on, let's go. Don't be a chicken.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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chicken out (of (sth))

  1. in.
    to manage to get out of something, usually because of fear or cowardice. : Freddy chickened out of the plan at the last minute.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

chicken 
O.E. cycen "young fowl," which in M.E. came to mean "young chicken," then any chicken, from W.Gmc. *kiukinam, from base *keuk- (possibly root of cock, of echoic origin) + dim. suffix. Sense of "cowardly" is at least as old as 14c.; the v. meaning "to back down or fail through cowardice" is from 1943, U.S. slang; as a game of danger to test courage, it is first recorded 1953. Chicken hawk "public person who advocates war but who declined significant opportunity to serve in uniform during wartime" is attested from at least 1988, Amer.Eng. Chicken pox (c.1730) may be a disparaging name because of their mildness compared to smallpox. Chicken feed "paltry sum of money" is from 1904. Chickweed (c.1440) was in O.E. cicene mete "chicken food."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Idioms & Phrases

chicken out

Back out from fear, lose one's nerve, as in In the end I chickened out and took the easier route down the mountain. Chicken is a popular synonym for "cowardly," a usage arising in the 1600s and 1700s but then apparently abandoned until the 20th century. [Slang; c. 1930]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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