chew
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /tʃuː/
ipa: /tʃʉw/
ipa: /tʃɪʊ̯/
enpr: cho͞o
ipa: /t͡ʃ(j)u/
rhymes: -uː
Forms: form: chews
Etymology: From Middle English chew, cheu, icheu, from Old English *ċēaw, *ġeċēaw (“chewing”), from Proto-West Germanic *kauw, *gakauw (“chewing”), from Proto-Germanic *kewwaną (“to chew”). Cognate with obsolete Dutch kauw (“chewing”), Dutch gekauw (“chewing”), West Frisian gekau (“chewing”).
Senses: examples: text: I popped the gum into my mouth and gave it a chew.
glosses: The act of chewing; mastication with the mouth.
examples: text: Once it's cooked, it's not enough of a hard chew to count.
ref: 1996, Adele Puhn, The 5-Day Miracle Diet Companion, →ISBN:
text: A bread with a strong and solidified gluten network has a nice chew to it, and many types of charcuterie call for just enough work by the teeth to be dangerously addictive. But in all cases, chewy must be combined with an appropriate amount of ...
ref: 2014, Christian F. Puglisi, Relae: A Book of Ideas, →ISBN, page 140:
text: No matter what I did to the squid, it was a tough chew. I got out my magnifying glass. Still, there was nothing that I could see to make the squid curl when cooked. I decided to tenderize the squid with my rubber hammer.
ref: 2015, Jim "Sunny" Edwards, A Footprint in the Sand: The Fishing Edge, Fulton Books, Inc., →ISBN:
text: To serve, cook the malloredus in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, but with a nice chew to them. Fold into a warm sauce or ragout and serve immediately.
ref: 2015, Aki Kamozawa, H. Alexander Talbot, Gluten-Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN:
text: While these are a little complicated to make, the result is a thick, toothsome bun that has a nice chew to it but is still soft.
ref: 2016, Heather Christo, Pure Delicious, Penguin, →ISBN, page 178:
glosses: Level of chewiness.
examples: text: Phillip purchased a bag of licorice chews at the drugstore.
glosses: A small sweet, such as a taffy, that is eaten by chewing.
examples: text: The school had banned chew and smokes from the school grounds, even for adults.
glosses: Chewing tobacco.
examples: text: The ballplayers sat on the bench watching the rain, glumly working their chews.
text: The first time he chewed tobacco, he swallowed his chew and got extremely sick.
glosses: A plug or wad of chewing tobacco; chaw or a chaw.
examples: text: Avoiding Tape Chew. In the early days of the ADAT, the "V" blocks (two arms that thread the tape around the front of the head) could sometimes get out of alignment and "chew" the outside track […]
ref: 1995, Keyboard, volume 21, numbers 7-12, page 138:
glosses: The condition of something being torn or ground up mechanically.
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from chew (noun)
word: chewcard
sense: Terms derived from chew (noun)
word: chewie
sense: Terms derived from chew (noun)
word: chewproof
sense: Terms derived from chew (noun)
word: chewstick
sense: Terms derived from chew (noun)
word: chew toy
sense: Terms derived from chew (noun)
word: chobble
sense: Terms derived from chew (noun)
word: dog chew
sense: Terms derived from chew (noun)
word: midchew
sense: Terms derived from chew (noun)
word: penny chew
Related terms: pa chew cheng