Meaning

6 senses
  1. (countable, uncountable)The act of chewing; mastication with the mouth.

    I popped the gum into my mouth and gave it a chew.

  2. (countable, uncountable)Level of chewiness.

  3. (countable, uncountable)A small sweet, such as a taffy, that is eaten by chewing.

    Phillip purchased a bag of licorice chews at the drugstore.

  4. (informal, uncountable)Chewing tobacco.

    The school had banned chew and smokes from the school grounds, even for adults.

    a wad of something chewable as tobacco

  5. (countable)A plug or wad of chewing tobacco; chaw or a chaw.

    The ballplayers sat on the bench watching the rain, glumly working their chews.

    The first time he chewed tobacco, he swallowed his chew and got extremely sick.

  6. (informal, uncountable)The condition of something being torn or ground up mechanically.

Examples

288 sentences
  1. Does it hurt when you chew?

    Тобі боляче жувати?

    ruКогда вы жуете, болит?

    deTut es weh, wenn du kaust?

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  2. A rat chewed a hole in the wall.

    Щур прогриз нору в стіні.

    ruКрыса прогрызла дыру в стене.

    deEine Ratte hat ein Loch in die Wand genagt.

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  3. Keep your mouth closed when you chew food.

    Тримай рота закритим, коли жуєш їжу.

    ruДержи рот закрытым, когда жуёшь еду.

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  4. I have difficulty chewing.

    Мені складно жувати.

    ruМне трудно жевать.

    deKauen fällt mir schwer.

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  5. Tom is chewing gum.

    Том жує жувальну гумку.

    ruТом жуёт жвачку.

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Origin

From Middle English chew, cheu, icheu, from Old English *ċēaw, *ġeċēaw (“chewing”), from P

From Middle English chew, cheu, icheu, from Old English *ċēaw, *ġeċēaw (“chewing”), from Proto-West Germanic *kauw, *gakauw (“chewing”), from Proto-Germanic *kewwaną (“to chew”). Cognate with obsolete Dutch kauw (“chewing”), Dutch gekauw (“chewing”), West Frisian gekau (“chewing”).

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: chews
Singularchew
Pluralchews

regular

Synonyms

8 synonyms
Close in meaning

Word family

10 related words

Collocations

3 patterns
  • chewing gum
  • is chewing gum
  • chew your food

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
chew — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto