chick

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See also:Chick

English

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A baby chicken (chick),Gallus gallus domesticus

Etymology 1

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FromMiddle Englishchicke,chike(Canthis(+)etymology besourced?),variation ofchiken(“chicken ", also" chick”),fromOld Englishċicen,ċycen(“chicken”).Sense of "young woman" dates to at least 1860 (comparechit(“young, pert woman”))(Canthis(+)etymology besourced?).More atchicken.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key):/t͡ʃɪk/
  • Audio(US):(file)
  • Rhymes:-ɪk

Noun

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chick(pluralchicksor(obsolete)chicken)

  2. Ayoungbird.
    Synonym:fledgling
    Coordinate term:birdlet
    • 2023August 24, Pádraig Hoare, “90% of emperor penguin colonies doomed to extinction by century's end”, inIrish Examiner‎[1]:
      Published in the Communications Earth & Environment journal, scientists conclude that due to sea ice loss last year, it is highly probable that nochickshad survived from four of the five known emperor penguin colonies in the central and eastern Bellingshausen Sea in Antarctica.
  3. A youngchicken.
  4. (dated,endearing)A youngchild.
  6. (colloquial)A young, typically attractive,womanor teenagegirl.
    Synonyms:seeThesaurus:girl,Thesaurus:woman
    They're going to have achickweekend. No guys allowed.
    He'll fall for anychickwith a nice smile.
    • 1860,Joseph Verey,Tinsel and Gold: A Fireside Story,London: James Blackwood,page155:
      "I thought you had some common sense, Frank," said Uncle John; "but I see you are as great a fool as all the rest. Marry, indeed! A prettychickto marry! "
    • 1927,Sinclair Lewis,Elmer Gantry:
      He had determined that marriage now would cramp his advancement in the church and that, anyway, he didn't want to marry this brainless little fluffychick,who would be of no help in impressing rich parishioners.
    • 1958,Jerry Leiber; Mike Stoller(lyrics and music), “Three Cool Cats”:
      Three coolchicks/ Are walking down the street / Swinging their hips
    • 1970,Gimme Shelter(motion picture), Mick Jagger (actor):
      Good. It's nice to have achickoccasionally.
    • 2004,Tess Pendergrass,Bad moon rising:
      I can't believe you've got a hotchickin that ratty apartment with you.
  7. (military,slang)Afriendlyfighter aircraft.
    • 2004,Joe Welzen,The Gutsy Stomach Walker,page50:
      The Aldis lamp flashes at the underside of each aircraft. It shows that the gear is down. Diegal is rela xing. This is such low responsibility, easy night duty. All the “chicks”(fighter aircraft) are home to roost except one.
Derived terms
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Translations
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See also
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Verb

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chick(third-person singular simple presentchicks,present participlechicking,simple past and past participlechicked)

  1. (obsolete)Tosprout,as seed does in the ground; tovegetate.
    • 1795,William Marshall,The Rural Economy of Norfolk:
      plowing in his oats with a very feet furrow; and, after they have “chicked”but before they appear aboveground
  2. To compress the lips and then separate them quickly, resulting in a percussive noise.
    • 1844,James Ballantine,The Miller of Deanhaugh:
      Hechickedhis lips; he cracked his whip; he winked with a knowing leer; he ran down the alley and up the stair, then down the stair and up the alley

Etymology 2

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BorrowedfromHindustaniچق(ciq)/चिक(cik),ultimately fromPersianچق(čeq).

Noun

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chick(pluralchicks)

  1. (India,Pakistan)Ascreenorblindmade of finelyslitbambooandtwine,hung indoorwaysorwindows.
    • 1890,Rudyard Kipling,Letter toWilliam Canton,5 April, 1890, in Sandra Kemp and Lisa Lewis (eds.)Writings on writing by Rudyard Kipling,Cambridge University Press, 1996, p. 34,[2]
      Then, through a cautiously liftedchick,the old scene stands revealed[…]
    • 1905,A. C. Newcombe, chapter VII, inVillage, Town, and Jungle Life in India‎[3],Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, page106:
      It is not uncommon at meal-time to see the table servants chasing the sparrows about the room, endeavouring to drive them out while some one holds up the "chick"or bamboo net which covers the doorway.
    • 1934October,George Orwell[pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], “Chapter 2”,inBurmese Days,New York, N.Y.:Harper & Brothers, Publishers,→OCLC:
      […]at this time of day all the verandas were curtained with green bamboochicks.
    • 1999,Kevin Rushby, chapter 10, inChasing the Mountain of Light: Across India on the Trail of the Koh-i-Noor Diamond,New York: St. Martin's Press,page216:
      Outside I could hear the bamboochicktapping on the door like a blind man's stick on a kerbstone.
Synonyms
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Derived terms
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Further reading

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Yola

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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FromMiddle Englishchike,fromOld Englishċicen.Cognate withEnglishchick,andScotsschik.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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chick(pluralchickès)

  1. chicken

References

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  • Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor,A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland,London: J. Russell Smith, published1867,page30
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