I. ˈchin noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English cinn; akin to Old High German kinni chin, Old Norse kinn cheek, Gothic kinnus, Latin gena, Greek genys jaw, cheek, Sanskrit hanu jaw
1. : the lower portion of the face lying below the lower lip and including the prominence of the lower jaw and the overlying soft tissues
2. : the surface lying beneath the lower jaw or between the branches of the jaw — used chiefly of lower vertebrates in which a mental prominence is lacking from the jawbone
3. : a casual or random conversation : chat
get together for a chin — C.G.Norris
•
- chin up
II. verb
( chinned ; chinned ; chinning ; chins )
transitive verb
1. : to bring to or hold with the chin
the weary fiddler chinning his violin — Christopher Morley
2.
a. : to raise oneself on (as a horizontal bar) while hanging by the hands from a position in which the arms are fully extended to a position in which the chin is level with or above the support
he chinned the bar 12 times
b. : to raise (oneself) in this manner
looked up at the top of the doorway, and … it was in his mind to leap up and seize it and chin himself on it — Kenneth Roberts
3. : to talk to especially volubly or boldly : chatter to
intransitive verb
: to talk especially idly or casually : chatter
the janitor can come in and chin with me any time he wants — W.H.Whyte
III. noun
( plural chin or chins )
Usage: usually capitalized
Etymology: Burmese, literally, hill-man
1.
a. : a people in Burma differing from the Burmese in shorter stature and darker skin that inhabit the Chin hills and the Arakan Yoma in the southern part of the India-Burma frontier
b. : a member of such people
2. : the language of the Chin people similar to the Naga language and including numerous dialects
IV. noun
( -s )
Usage: usually capitalized
Etymology: by shortening
: chinchilla 5