chicken

verb

chickened; chickening ˈchi-kᵊn-iŋ 

ˈchik-niŋ

intransitive verb

: to lose one's nerve

—usually used with out

… seemed to exhibit courage, manliness, and conviction when others chickened out.

—J. R. Seeley

Word History

First Known Use

1931, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing chicken

• chicken-and-egg
• chicken colonel
• chicken coop
• chicken-coop jump
• chicken feed
• chicken-fried steak
• chicken hawk
• chicken-livered
• chicken mushroom
• chicken noodle soup
• chicken-of-the-woods
• chicken out
• chicken pox
• chicken snake
• chicken soup
• chicken wire
• like a chicken with its head cut off
• Mother Carey's chicken
• popcorn chicken/shrimp
• prairie chicken
• rubber-chicken
• running around like a chicken with its head cut off
• spring chicken

Rhymes for chicken

• likin
• quicken
• sicken
• stricken
• thicken
• indican

Kids Definition

chicken

1 of 3 noun

chick·​en ˈchik-ən 

1

: the common domestic fowl especially when young

also : its flesh used as food

2

: any of various birds or their young

3

: coward

chicken

2 of 3 adjective

: cowardly sense 1

chicken

3 of 3 verb

chickened; chickening ˈchik-(ə-)niŋ 

: to lose one's courage

—usually used with out