chest|nut /tʃe snʌt/ (chestnuts )
1 N‑COUNT A chestnut or chestnut tree is a tall tree with broad leaves. ● N‑UNCOUNT Chestnut is the wood of this tree.
2 → see also horse chestnut
3 N‑COUNT Chestnuts are the reddish-brown nuts that grow on chestnut trees. You can eat chestnuts.
4 COLOUR Something that is chestnut is dark reddish-brown in colour. □ …a woman with chestnut hair. □ …a chestnut mare.
che st of dra wers (chests of drawers ) N‑COUNT A chest of drawers is a low, flat piece of furniture with drawers in which you keep clothes and other things.
chesty /tʃe sti/ ADJ [ADJ n] If you have a chesty cough, you have a lot of mucus in your lungs. [BRIT ]
chev|ron /ʃe vrɒn/ (chevrons ) N‑COUNT A chevron is a V shape. □ The chevron or arrow road sign indicates a sharp bend to the left or right.
chew /tʃuː / (chews , chewing , chewed )
1 VERB When you chew food, you use your teeth to break it up in your mouth so that it becomes easier to swallow. □ [V n] Be certain to eat slowly and chew your food extremely well. □ [V + at/on ] Daniel leaned back on the sofa, still chewing on his apple. □ [V ] …the sound of his mother chewing and swallowing.
2 VERB If you chew gum or tobacco, you keep biting it and moving it around your mouth to taste the flavour of it. You do not swallow it. □ [V n] One girl was chewing gum.
3 VERB If you chew your lips or your fingernails, you keep biting them because you are nervous. □ [V n] He chewed his lower lip nervously.
4 VERB If a person or animal chews an object, they bite it with their teeth. □ [V n] They pause and chew their pencils. □ [V prep] One owner left his pet under the stairs where the animal chewed through electric cables.
5 PHRASE If you say that someone has bitten off more than they can chew , you mean that they are trying to do something which is too difficult for them. □ He bought the old hotel but soon realized he had bitten off more than he could chew.
6 to chew the cud → see cud
▸ chew up
1 PHRASAL VERB If you chew food up , you chew it until it is completely crushed or soft. □ [V n P ] I took one of the pills and chewed it up. [Also V P n]
2 PHRASAL VERB If something is chewed up , it has been destroyed or damaged in some way. [INFORMAL ] □ [be V -ed P ] Every spring the ozone is chewed up, and the hole appears. □ [V P n] …rebels who are now chewing up Government-held territory. □ [V n P ] This town is notorious for chewing people up and spitting them out.
che w|ing gum N‑UNCOUNT Chewing gum is a kind of sweet that you can chew for a long time. You do not swallow it. □ …a stick of chewing gum.
chewy /tʃuː i/ (chewier , chewiest ) ADJ If food is chewy , it needs to be chewed a lot before it becomes soft enough to swallow. □ The meat was too chewy. □ …chewy chocolate cookies.
chia|ro|scu|ro /kiæ rəskʊə roʊ/ N‑UNCOUNT Chiaroscuro is the use of light and shade in a picture, or the effect produced by light and shade in a place. □ …the natural chiaroscuro of the place.
chic /ʃiː k/
1 ADJ Something or someone that is chic is fashionable and sophisticated. □ Her gown was very French and very chic.
2 N‑UNCOUNT Chic is used to refer to a particular style or to the quality of being chic. □ …French designer chic.
chi|can|ery /ʃ I ke I nəri/ N‑UNCOUNT Chicanery is using cleverness to cheat people. [FORMAL ]
chi|ca|no /tʃ I ke I noʊ/ (chicanos ) N‑COUNT A chicano is an American citizen, whose family originally came from Mexico. [AM ] □ …views expressed by one young Chicano interviewed by Phinney.
chick /tʃ I k/ (chicks ) N‑COUNT A chick is a baby bird.
chick|en ◆◇◇ /tʃ I k I n/ (chickens , chickening , chickened )
1 N‑COUNT Chickens are birds which are kept on a farm for their eggs and for their meat. □ Lionel built a coop so that they could raise chickens and have a supply of fresh eggs. □ …free-range chickens. ● N‑UNCOUNT Chicken is the flesh of this bird eaten as food. □ …roast chicken with wild mushrooms. □ …chicken soup.
2 N‑COUNT If someone calls you a chicken , they mean that you are afraid to do something. [INFORMAL , DISAPPROVAL ] □ I'm scared of the dark. I'm a big chicken. ● ADJ [v-link ADJ ] Chicken is also an adjective. □ Why are you so chicken, Gregory?
3 PHRASE If you say that someone is counting their chickens , you mean that they are assuming that they will be successful or get something, when this is not certain. □ I don't want to count my chickens before they are hatched.
4 PHRASE If you describe a situation as a chicken and egg situation, you mean that it is impossible to decide which of two things caused the other one. □ It's a chicken and egg question: does team spirit lead to winning or does winning generate team spirit?
5 chickens come home to roost → see roost
▸ chicken out PHRASAL VERB If someone chickens out of something they were intending to do, they decide not to do it because they are afraid. [INFORMAL ] □ [V P + of ] His mother complains that he makes excuses to chicken out of family occasions such as weddings. □ [V P ] I had never ridden on a motor-cycle before. But it was too late to chicken out.