Meaning

1 senses

  1. (idiomatic)To display excessive emotion or to act in an exaggerated manner while performing; to be melodramatic; to be flamboyant.

    Near-synonym: camp it up

Translations

4 languages

Origin

Its earliest reference is listed in the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Sla

Its earliest reference is listed in the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang as being used by Mary Hallock Foote in Coeur D'Alene in 1894.http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20001024

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

chews the scenery, chewing the scenery, chewed the scenery, chewed the scenery
Base formchew the scenery · to chew the scenery
3rd person singularchews the scenery
Present participlechewing the scenery
Past simplechewed the scenery
Past participlechewed the scenery

irregular

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theychew the scenery
he, she, itchews the scenery

Past simpleLesson

all personschewed the scenery

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave chewed the scenery
he, she, ithas chewed the scenery

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill chew the scenery

Synonyms

5 synonyms
ham it upmelodramatizeoveracttear a catcamp it up

Word family

2 related words
Derivedscenery-chewerscenery-chewing

Lessons for this word

3 lessons

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
chevychewB2chewychichia
chew the scenery — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto