chaw
To chew; grind with one's teeth; to masticateTo chew; grind with one's teeth; to masticate (food, or the cud).
Meaning
4 senses(Southern US)To chew; grind with one's teeth; to masticate (food, or the cud).
(UK, slang)To steal.
Some pikey's chawed my bike.
(dialectal, intransitive)To be sulky.
(obsolete, transitive)To ruminate (about) in thought; to ponder; to consider.
"I home retourning, fraught with fowle despight, And chawing vengeaunce all the way I went, Soone as my loathed love appeard in sight, With wrathfull hand I slew her innocent;
- chew without swallowing
Origin
An unexplained variation of chewen (“to chew”). First attested in the sixteenth century. SAn unexplained variation of chewen (“to chew”). First attested in the sixteenth century. See chew for more. Cognate with Middle Dutch cauwen ("to chew"; whence Dutch kauwen), obsolete Dutch kauw (“the act of chewing, that which is chewed, chewed mass, wad of tobacco”), Middle Low German kauwen, kauen (“to chew”). Compare also Old English ġecow (“that which is chewed, food”) and *ġeċēaw (“chewing”), whence Middle English icheu (“gnawing, biting”).
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Forms
chaws, chawing, chawed, chawedWord family
3 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle