I. chick ‧ en 1 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 ↑ count 1 (8), ⇨ ↑ spring chicken
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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)
II. chicken 2 BrE AmE verb
chicken out phrasal verb informal
to decide at the last moment not to do something you said you would do, because you are afraid:
You’re not chickening out, are you?
III. chicken 3 BrE AmE adjective [not before noun] informal
not brave enough to do something SYN cowardly :
Dave’s too chicken to ask her out.