chicken

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: chick=en

CIDE DICTIONARY

chicken, n. [AS. cicen, cyceun, dim. of coc cock; akin to LG. kiken, kÜken, D. Kieken, kuiken, G. kÜchkein. See Cock the animal.].

•  A young bird or fowl, esp. a young barnyard fowl.  [1913 Webster]
•  A young person; a child; esp. a young woman; a maiden; same as spring chicken.  Swift.  [1913 Webster]

Chicken cholera, a contagious disease of fowls; -- so called because first studied during the prevalence of a cholera epidemic in France. It has no resemblance to true cholera.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

chicken, n., adj., & v.
--n. (pl. same or chickens)
1 a young bird of a domestic fowl.
2 a a domestic fowl prepared as food. b its flesh.
3 a youthful person (usu.with neg. : is no chicken).
4 colloq. a children's pastime testing courage, usu. recklessly.
--adj. colloq. cowardly.
--v.intr. (foll. by out) colloq. withdraw from or fail in some activity through fear or lack of nerve.

Idiom

chicken-and-egg problem (or dilemma etc.) the unresolved question as to which of two things caused the other. chicken brick an earthenware container in two halves for roasting a chicken in its own juices. chicken cholera see CHOLERA. chicken-feed
1 food for poultry.
2 colloq. an unimportant amount, esp. of money. chicken-hearted (or -livered) easily frightened; lacking nerve or courage. chicken-wire a light wire netting with a hexagonal mesh.

Etymology

OE cicen, cycen f. Gmc

THESAURUS

chicken

Ancona, Andalusian, Australorp, Bantam, Brahma, Campine, Cochin, Cornish, Cornish hen, Hamburg, Hershey bar, Leghorn, Lord Fauntleroy, Milquetoast, New Hampshire red, Orpington, Percy, Plymouth Rock, Rhode Island red, Rock Cornish, Sumatra, Sussex, afraid, anemic, asthenic, auntie, aviation badge, baby, back out, badge, banty, bar, barn-door fowl, barnyard fowl, bi-guy, biddy, big baby, bisexual, black Minorca, black Spanish, black Sumatra, bloodless, blue Orpington, boggle, broiler, brooder, broody hen, buff Orpington, bull dyke, butch, caille, canard, caneton, capon, catamite, chanticleer, chapon, chevron, chick, chickabiddy, chicken liver, chicken out, chickenhearted, chicky, cock, cockerel, coward, cowardly, cowed, craven, cream puff, crybaby, dastard, daunted, debilitated, desert under fire, dindon, dismayed, domestic fowl, doormat, drake, drooping, droopy, duck, duckling, dull, dull tool, dunghill fowl, dyke, eagle, effeminate, effete, epaulet, etiolated, fag, faggot, faint, fainthearted, faintish, fairy, faisan, falter, fearful, feeble, femme, flabby, flaccid, flit, floppy, fowl, fraid-cat, fraidy-cat, fricatrice, fruit, fryer, funk, funk out, funker, funking, funky, game fowl, gander, get cold feet, gobbler, gone, goody-goody, goose, gosling, grouse, guinea cock, guinea fowl, guinea hen, gunsel, gutless, gutless wonder, hash mark, hen, hen turkey, henhearted, homo, homophile, homosexual, homosexualist, imbecile, impotent, insignia of branch, intimidated, invert, invertebrate, jellyfish, languid, languorous, lesbian, lightweight, lily, lily liver, lily-livered, limber, limp, listless, lose courage, lustless, marrowless, meek soul, milk-livered, milksop, milksoppish, milksoppy, mollycoddle, mouse, mousy, muliebrous, namby-pamby, nance, nancy, nebbish, nerveless, nonentity, oak leaf, oie, old woman, old-womanish, organization insignia, overseas bar, overtimid, overtimorous, panic-prone, panicky, pansy, pantywaist, parachute badge, partlet, partridge, patch, pathic, pheasant, pigeon, pigeonhearted, pigeonneau, pip, pithless, poltroon, poltroonish, pooped, poulard, poulet, poult, poultry, powerless, prissy, pullet, punk, pushover, pusillanimous, quail, queen, queer, quitter, rabbity, roaster, rooster, rubbery, sad sack, sapless, sapphist, scaredy-cat, scuttle, service stripe, setting hen, shoulder patch, shoulder sleeve insignia, sinewless, sissified, sissy, sissyish, skedaddle, slack, soft, softling, softy, sop, speckled Sussex, spineless, spread eagle, spring chicken, spunkless, squab, star, stewing chicken, strengthless, stripe, submarine badge, timid, timorous, tom, tom turkey, tribade, turkey, turkey gobbler, turkey-cock, unhardened, unmanly, unmanned, unnerved, unstrung, volaille, weak, weak sister, weak-kneed, weakhearted, weakling, weakly, white Orpington, white Plymouth Rock, white Wyandotte, white feather, white liver, white-livered, wild duck, womanish, yellow

ROGET THESAURUS

chicken

Infant

N infant, babe, baby, babe in arms, nurseling, suckling, yearling, weanling, papoose, bambino, kid, vagitus, child, bairn, little one, brat, chit, pickaninny, urchin, bantling, bratling, elf, youth, boy, lad, stripling, youngster, youngun, younker, callant, whipster, whippersnapper, whiffet, schoolboy, hobbledehoy, hopeful, cadet, minor, master, scion, sap, seedling, tendril, olive branch, nestling, chicken, larva, chrysalis, tadpole, whelp, cub, pullet, fry, callow, codlin, codling, foetus, calf, colt, pup, foal, kitten, lamb, lambkin, aurelia, caterpillar, cocoon, nymph, nympha, orphan, pupa, staddle, girl, lass, lassie, wench, miss, damsel, demoiselle, maid, maiden, virgin, hoyden, infantine, infantile, puerile, boyish, girlish, childish, babyish, kittenish, baby, newborn, unfledged, new-fledged, callow, in the cradle, in swaddling clothes, in long clothes, in arms, in leading strings, at the breast, in one's teens.

Animal

N animal, animal kingdom, fauna, brute creation, beast, brute, creature, critter, wight, created being, creeping thing, living thing, dumb animal, dumb creature, zoophyte, mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, fish, crustacean, shellfish, mollusk, worm, insect, arthropod, microbe, microbe, animalcule, alligator, crocodile, saurian, dinosaur (extinct), snake, serpent, viper, eft, asp, aspick, frog, toad, trout, bass, tuna, muskelunge, sailfish, sardine, mackerel, ant, mosquito, bee, honeybee, tardigrade, spider, biped, quadruped, webfoot, flocks and herds, live stock, domestic animals, wild animals, game, ferae naturae, beasts of the field, fowls of the air, denizens of the sea, black game, black grouse, blackcock, duck, grouse, plover, rail, snipe, horse, cattle, kine, ox, bull, bullock, cow, milch cow, calf, heifer, shorthorn, sheep, lamb, lambkin, ewe, ram, tup, pig, swine, boar, hog, sow, steer, stot, tag, teg, bison, buffalo, yak, zebu, dog, cat, dog, hound, pup, puppy, whelp, cur, mongrel, house dog, watch dog, sheep dog, shepherd's dog, sporting dog, fancy dog, lap dog, toy dog, bull dog, badger dog, mastiff, blood hound, grey hound, stag hound, deer hound, fox hound, otter hound, harrier, beagle, spaniel, pointer, setter, retriever, Newfoundland, water dog, water spaniel, pug, poodle, turnspit, terrier, fox terrier, Skye terrier, Dandie Dinmont, collie, feline, puss, pussy, grimalkin, gib cat, tom cat, fox, Reynard, vixen, stag, deer, hart, buck, doe, roe, caribou, coyote, elk, moose, musk ox, sambar, bird, poultry, fowl, cock, hen, chicken, chanticleer, partlet, rooster, dunghill cock, barn door fowl, feathered tribes, feathered songster, singing bird, dicky bird, canary, warbler, finch, aberdevine, cushat, cygnet, ringdove, siskin, swan, wood pigeon, vermin, varmint, pest, animal, zoological equine, bovine, vaccine, canine, feline, fishy, piscatory, piscatorial, molluscous, vermicular, gallinaceous, rasorial, solidungulate, soliped.