[chip] 
noun, verb, chipped, chip⋅ping.| 1. | a small, slender piece, as of wood, separated by chopping, cutting, or breaking. |
| 2. | a very thin slice or small piece of food, candy, etc.: chocolate chips. |
| 3. | a mark or flaw made by the breaking off or gouging out of a small piece: This glass has a chip. |
| 4. | any of the small round disks, usually of plastic or ivory, used as tokens for money in certain gambling games, as roulette or poker; counter. |
| 5. | Also called microchip. Electronics. a tiny slice of semiconducting material, generally in the shape of a square a few millimeters long, cut from a larger wafer of the material, on which a transistor or an entire integrated circuit is formed. Compare microprocessor. |
| 6. | a small cut or uncut piece of a diamond or crystal. |
| 7. | anything trivial or worthless. |
| 8. | something dried up or without flavor. |
| 9. | a piece of dried dung: buffalo chips. |
| 10. | wood, straw, etc., in thin strips for weaving into hats, baskets, etc. |
| 11. | Golf. chip shot. |
| 12. | Tennis. a softly sliced return shot with heavy backspin. |
| 13. | the strip of material removed by a recording stylus as it cuts the grooves in a record. |
| 14. | chips, Chiefly British. French fries. |
| 15. | to hew or cut with an ax, chisel, etc. |
| 16. | to cut, break off, or gouge out (bits or fragments): He chipped a few pieces of ice from the large cube. |
| 17. | to disfigure by breaking off a fragment: to chip the edge of a saucer. |
| 18. | to shape or produce by cutting or flaking away pieces: to chip a figure out of wood. |
| 19. | Games. to bet by means of chips, as in poker. |
| 20. | Tennis. to slice (a ball) on a return shot, causing it to have heavy backspin. |
| 21. | Slang. to take (a narcotic drug) occasionally, esp. only in sufficient quantity to achieve a mild euphoria. |
| 22. | Chiefly British Sports. to hit or kick (a ball) a short distance forward. |
| 23. | British Slang. to jeer or criticize severely; deride; taunt. |
| 24. | Australian. to hoe; harrow. |
| 25. | to break off in small pieces. |
| 26. | Golf. to make a chip shot. |
| 27. | chip in,
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| 28. | chip off the old block, a person who resembles one parent in appearance or behavior: His son is just a chip off the old block. |
| 29. | chip on one's shoulder, a disposition to quarrel: You will never make friends if you go around with a chip on your shoulder. |
| 30. | in the chips, Slang. wealthy; rich: Don't look down on your old friends now that you're in the chips. |
| 31. | when the chips are down, in a discouraging or disadvantageous situation; in bad or pressing times: When the chips are down he proves to be a loyal friend. |
A belligerent attitude or grievance: “Joe really has a chip on his shoulder; every time I say something to him, he takes it the wrong way.” In the past, a young boy would place a wood chip on his shoulder and dare anyone to knock it off as a way of showing how tough he was.
chip
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| chip (chĭp) Pronunciation Key
See integrated circuit. |
chip on one's shoulder
A belligerent attitude or grievance, as in Mary is easily offended; she always has a chip on her shoulder. This term actually was defined in a newspaper article (Long Island Telegraph, May 20, 1830): "When two churlish boys were determined to fight, a chip would be placed on the shoulder of one and the other demanded to knock it off at his peril." [Early 1800s]