■ noun
1》 a domestic fowl kept for its eggs or meat, especially a young one.
2》 informal a coward.
↘a game in which the first person to lose their nerve and withdraw from a dangerous situation is the loser.
■ adjective informal cowardly.
■ verb ( ~ out ) informal be too scared to do something.
Phrases
~-and-egg denoting a situation in which each of two things appears to be necessary to the other. [from the question ‘Which came first, the ~ or the egg?’]
like a headless ~ informal in a panic-stricken and unthinking manner.
Origin
OE cīcen , cȳcen , of Gmc origin; prob. related to cock 1 .