a common farm bird that is kept for its meat and eggs
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We had chicken for dinner.
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Oxford Essential Dictionary
chicken
noun
1 (plural chickens) a bird that people often keep for its eggs and its meat
word building
A female chicken is called a hen and a male chicken is called a cock. A young chicken is a chick.
2 (no plural) the meat from this bird:
roast chicken
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
chicken
I. chick‧en1 S2 /ˈtʃɪkən, ˈtʃɪkɪn/ BrE AmE noun
[Language: Old English; Origin: cicen 'young chicken']
1.
[countable] a common farm bird that is kept for its meat and eggs ⇨ hen, cock, rooster, chick
2. [uncountable] the meat from this bird eaten as food:
roast chicken
fried chicken
chicken soup
3. [countable] informal someone who is not at all brave SYN coward:
Don’t be such a chicken!
4. [uncountable] a game in which children do something dangerous, for example stand on a railway line when a train is coming, and try to be the one who continues doing it for the longest time
5. which came first, the chicken or the egg? used to say that it is difficult or impossible to decide which of two things happened first, or which action is the cause and which is the effect
6. a chicken and egg situation/problem etc a situation in which it is impossible to decide which of two things happened first, or which action is the cause and which is the effect
7. sb’s chickens have come home to roost used to say that someone’s bad or dishonest actions in the past have caused the problems that they have now
⇨ don’t count your chickens before they’ve hatched at count1(8), ⇨ spring chicken
• • •
COLLOCATIONS (for Meaning 2)
■ adjectives
▪ fresh (=recently killed and not frozen) Is the chicken fresh?
▪ frozen We never buy cheap frozen chicken.
▪ free-range (=from a chicken that moved around outside and ate naturally) All the chicken we serve is free-range.
▪ roast chicken (=cooked in an oven) For dinner we're having roast chicken.
▪ fried chicken (=cooked in oil) They filled their plates with fried chicken.
▪ skinless chicken (=with the skin removed) For this recipe, you will need a two pounds of skinless chicken.
■ chicken + NOUN
▪ chicken breast/thigh/wing Chop the chicken breast into pieces.
▪ a chicken piece (=a chicken breast, leg, thigh or wing) You will need two chicken pieces per person.
▪ chicken drumsticks (=the lower part of chicken legs) party food, such as sandwiches and chicken drumsticks
▪ a chicken sandwich/salad/pie etc I'll make a chicken pie with the leftovers.
■ verbs
▪ stuff a chicken (=fill a chicken with a mixture of onion, lemon, herbs etc)
▪ carve a chicken (=cut up a whole chicken that has been cooked)
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
chicken
chick·en [chicken chickens chickened chickening] noun, verb, adjective [ˈtʃɪkɪn] [ˈtʃɪkɪn]
noun
1. countable a large bird that is often kept for its eggs or meat
• They keep chickens in the back yard.
• free-range chickens
compare cock, hen
2. uncountable meat from a chicken
• fried/roast chicken
• chicken stock/soup
• chicken breasts/livers/thighs
• chicken and chips
see also spring chicken
more at don't count your chickens at count v., run around like a headless chicken at headless, the chickens come home to roost at home adv.
Word Origin:
Old English cīcen, cȳcen, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kieken and German Küchlein, and probably also to cock.
Example Bank:
• A few chickens were scratching around the yard.
• Are we just going to sit here like trussed up chickens?
• Battery chickens have miserable lives.
• Free-range chickens have happy lives.
• a crate of live chickens
• succulent pieces of chicken
• He called me a chicken because I wouldn't swim in the river.
Idioms: chicken-and-egg situation/problem ▪ play chicken
Derived: chicken out
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary - 4th Edition
chicken / tʃɪk.ɪn / noun [ C or U ] (BIRD)
A2 a type of bird kept on a farm for its eggs or its meat, or the meat of this bird that is cooked and eaten:
A male chicken is called a cock and a female chicken is called a hen.
We're having roast/fried chicken for dinner.
chicken / tʃɪk.ɪn / noun [ C ] informal (PERSON)
a person who is not brave:
Jump, you chicken!
→ Synonym coward
© Cambridge University Press 2013
Collins Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary
chicken
[tʃɪ̱kɪn]
♦♦♦
chickens, chickening, chickened
1) N-COUNT Chickens are birds which are kept on a farm for their eggs and for their meat.
Lionel built a coop so that they could raise chickens and have a supply of fresh eggs.
...free-range chickens.
Syn:
hen
N-UNCOUNT
Chicken is the flesh of this bird eaten as food. ...roast chicken with wild mushrooms. ...chicken soup.
2) N-COUNT (disapproval) If someone calls you a chicken, they mean that you are afraid to do something. [INFORMAL]
I'm scared of the dark. I'm a big chicken.
Syn:
coward
ADJ-GRADED: v-link ADJ
Chicken is also an adjective. Why are you so chicken, Gregory?
3) PHRASE: V inflects If you say that someone is counting their chickens, you mean that they are assuming that they will be successful or get something, when this is not certain.
I don't want to count my chickens before they are hatched.
4) PHRASE: PHR n If you describe a situation as a chicken and egg situation, you mean that it is impossible to decide which of two things caused the other one.
It's a chicken and egg situation. Does the deficiency lead to the eczema or has the eczema led to certain deficiencies?
5) PHRASE: V and N inflect If someone is running round like a headless chicken or rushing around like a headless chicken, they are panicking when they should be thinking carefully about what needs to be done. [mainly BRIT]
Instead of running round like a headless chicken use your efforts in a more productive way.
6) chickens come home to roost
Phrasal Verbs:
- chicken out
Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary
1chick·en /ˈʧɪkn̩/ noun, pl -ens
1 a [count] : a bird that is raised by people for its eggs and meat
b [noncount] : the meat of the chicken used as food
• We had chicken for dinner.
• fried/roasted/grilled chicken
- often used before another noun
• chicken soup/broth
• chicken salad
2 [count] informal : a person who is afraid : coward
• It's just a spider, you chicken!
• Don't be such a big chicken.
count your chickens
✦If you count your chickens or (US) count your chickens before they hatch or (Brit) before they're hatched, you believe that something you want to happen will definitely happen before you know for certain that it really will.
• Don't count your chickens before they hatch—we don't know yet if she will accept our offer.
your chickens come home to roost