chicken

chick|en¹ S2 [ˈtʃıkın] n

[: Old English; Origin: cicen 'young chicken']

1.)

a common farm bird that is kept for its meat and eggs

→↑hen, cock ↑cock, rooster ↑rooster, chick ↑chick

2.) [U]

the meat from this bird eaten as food

▪ roast chicken

▪ fried chicken

▪ chicken soup

3.) informal

someone who is not at all brave

= ↑coward

▪ Don't be such a chicken!

4.) [U]

a game in which children do something dangerous, for example stand on a railway line when a train is coming, and try to be the one who continues doing it for the longest time

5.) which came first, the chicken or the egg?

used to say that it is difficult or impossible to decide which of two things happened first, or which action is the cause and which is the effect

6.) a chicken and egg situation/problem etc

a situation in which it is impossible to decide which of two things happened first, or which action is the cause and which is the effect

7.) sb's chickens have come home to roost

used to say that someone's bad or dishonest actions in the past have caused the problems that they have now

→don't count your chickens before they've hatched at ↑count¹ (8), ↑spring chicken

chicken ²

chicken² v

chicken out phr v

to decide at the last moment not to do something you said you would do, because you are afraid

▪ You're not chickening out, are you?

chicken ³

chicken³ adj [not before noun] informal

not brave enough to do something

= ↑cowardly

▪ Dave's too chicken to ask her out.