chip

noun

\ ˈchip

plural chips

Definition of chip

(Entry 1 of 2)

1a : a small usually thin and flat piece (as of wood or stone) cut, struck, or flaked off

b : a small piece of food: such as

(1) : a small, thin, crisp, usually salty piece of food typically prepared by frying, baking, or drying banana chips especially : potato chip — see also corn chip

(2) : french fry

(3) : a small often cone-shaped bit of food often used for baking chocolate chips

c : a small card displaying a paint color or a range of paint colors available for purchase fabric swatches and paint chips

2 : something small, worthless, or trivial

3a : one of the counters used as a token for money in poker and other games

b chips plural : money —used especially in the phrase in the chips The beginning was always characterized by careless haste in the expectation of landing in the chips,…— William Kittredge

c : something valuable that can be used for advantage in negotiation or trade a bargaining chip

4 : a piece of dried dung —usually used in combination cow chip

5 : a flaw left after a chip has been broken off

6a : integrated circuit

b : a small wafer of semiconductor material that forms the base for an integrated circuit

7 : chip shot sense 1

8 : microarray DNA chips

chip off the old block

: a child that resembles his or her parent

chip on one's shoulder

: a challenging or belligerent attitude

chip

verb

chipped; chipping

Definition of chip (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

1a : to cut or hew with an edged tool

b(1) : to cut or break (a small piece) from something

(2) : to cut or break a fragment from chip a tooth

(3) : to cut into chips chip a tree stump

2 British : chaff, banter

3 : to hit (a return in tennis) with backspin

intransitive verb

1 : to break off in small pieces

2 : to play a chip shot

Synonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about chip

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Examples of chip in a Sentence

Noun

The cup has a chip in it. wood chips were spread over the ground between the plants

Verb

I bit into something hard and chipped my tooth. He fell and chipped a bone in his knee. The paint had chipped off. He chipped away the ice from the car's windshield. The sculptor chipped away bits of stone. The golfer chipped the ball onto the green. She chipped the soccer ball over the goalie's head. He chipped a pass to his teammate. The golfer chipped onto the green.

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

Projects may include pruning, invasive plant removal and mulch chip spreading. — oregonlive.com, "Homes and gardens events around Portland: Garden tours, workshops and more," 7 June 2019 Convinced that his peers were too pessimistic about Brexit, Mr Woodford swapped blue-chips for smaller, younger companies focused on the domestic market. — The Economist, "Neil Woodford, star fund-manager, comes a cropper," 6 June 2019 Doing so will enable other chip makers in the USB-PG to build Thunderbolt 3 silicon royalty-free. — Mark Hachman, PCWorld, "The new USB4 spec promises a lot: Thunderbolt 3 support, 40Gbps bandwidth, and less confusion," 5 Mar. 2019 With few and dwindling exceptions, the U.S. no longer makes things like flat-panel displays, memory devices, light-emitting devices, lasers, imaging chips for digital cameras, and computer system packaging software. — Henry Kressel And David P. Goldman, WSJ, "Silicon, Not Steel, Will Win the Next War," 23 Dec. 2018 Meanwhile, a number of other companies, like the French startup Blade and chip maker Nvidia, have existing game streaming services that are slowly but surely getting better. — Nick Statt, The Verge, "Google is giving away Assassin’s Creed Odyssey for free if you demo Project Stream," 18 Dec. 2018 The lawsuit was filed in January, a month after Micron sued the two companies in U.S. court, accusing them of conspiring to steal Micron trade secrets to help the Chinese company ramp up production of memory chips. — David Staats, idahostatesman, "Risch, Crapo tell Trump why they worry that China is undermining Boise's Micron," 23 June 2018 Following the panel, attendees celebrated the start of the 2019 program with champagne, charcuterie, and chocolate chip cookies. — Eliseé Browchuk, Vogue, "Dior Celebrates the Newest Members of Its Women@Dior Program," 16 Mar. 2019 The ultimate goal is to get a hold of compromising or embarrassing information that can be used as a bargaining chip or to discredit an individual’s character or motives. — Ben Widdicombe, Town & Country, "How Much Does It Cost to Keep Your Name Out of the News?," 18 Jan. 2019

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

This episode, yet another piece of her old life is chipped away. — Elena Nicolaou, refinery29.com, "The Handmaid's Tale," 7 June 2019 Block heels have been chipped away into irregular shapes for a more sculptural look in wood, metal, or even gems, like Jacquemus’s highly decorated heels. — Vogue, "Street Spotting: Shop 5 of Spring’s Most Covetable Shoe Trends," 19 Mar. 2019 Ever Banega's sumptuous pass was chipped into his path. — Thomas Allnutt, chicagotribune.com, "Messi delivers as Argentina scrape through to World Cup's last 16," 26 June 2018 Kieran Trippier's short free kick was chipped into the box by Jordan Henderson and headed across goal by Kane. — SI.com, "England 6-1 Panama: Three Lions Roar With Biggest Ever World Cup Win to Book Last 16 Spot," 24 June 2018 He was taken to a local shelter, where his owner was able to pick him up since Gold was chipped, so all's well that ends well. — Daniela Sternitzky-di Napoli, Houston Chronicle, "Texas police get call for vicious pit bull, find the friendliest dog ever instead," 2 May 2018 He was chipped, which made getting in touch with the owner a little easier for authorities. — Matthew Martinez, star-telegram, "Texas police got a call about a 'vicious' pit bull — then they got to know him | Fort Worth Star-Telegram," 1 May 2018 Long before Easter and Fiesta come around, eggshells have to be carefully chipped opened, washed and stored. — Elaine Ayala, San Antonio Express-News, "Cascarón a symbol of ritual, renewal," 20 Apr. 2018 And while this will undoubtedly lead to a chipping away, if not complete reversal, of Roe v. Wade, our rights are already under siege thanks to state legislatures. — refinery29.com, "How You Can Help Keep Abortion Safe & Legal In Light Of Justice Kennedy Retiring," 28 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'chip.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for chip

Noun

Middle English; akin to Old English -cippian

Verb

Middle English chippen, from Old English -cippian (as in forcippian to cut off); akin to Old English cipp beam, Old High German chipfa stave

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Dictionary Entries near chip

Statistics for chip

Last Updated

12 Jun 2019

Look-up Popularity

Time Traveler for chip

The first known use of chip was in the 14th century

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More Definitions for chip

chip

noun

English Language Learners Definition of chip

(Entry 1 of 2)

: a small piece that has been broken off from something larger

: a place where a small piece of something has broken off

: a small piece of candy or chocolate used in baking

chip

verb

English Language Learners Definition of chip (Entry 2 of 2)

: to break off a small piece from (something)

: to break or come off in small pieces

: to break off (something) especially with a tool

See the full definition for chip in the English Language Learners Dictionary

chip

noun

\ ˈchip

Kids Definition of chip

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 : a small piece cut or broken off wood chips a chip of glass

2 : a thin crisp piece of food and especially potato tortilla chips

3 : a small bit of candy used in baking chocolate chips

4 : a flaw left after a small piece has been broken off There's a chip in the rim of that cup.

5 : integrated circuit

6 : a small slice of silicon containing a number of electronic circuits (as for a computer)

chip

verb

chipped; chipping

Kids Definition of chip (Entry 2 of 2)

1 : to cut or break a small piece from I fell and chipped my tooth.

2 : to break off in small pieces We chipped the ice from the windshield.

chip

noun

\ ˈchip

Medical Definition of chip

: microarray When exposed to a sample of unknown DNA, the probes on the chip bind to their complementary strands, thereby reading the sequences in the sample.— Jeff Wheelwright, Discover, April 2002