CHICK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does chick mean? 

• CHICK (noun)
  The noun CHICK has 2 senses:

1. young bird especially of domestic fowl

2. informal terms for a (young) woman

  Familiarity information: CHICK used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CHICK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Young bird especially of domestic fowl

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

biddy; chick

Hypernyms ("chick" is a kind of...):

young bird (a bird that is still young)

chicken; Gallus gallus (a domestic fowl bred for flesh or eggs; believed to have been developed from the red jungle fowl)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Informal terms for a (young) woman

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

bird; chick; dame; doll; skirt; wench

Hypernyms ("chick" is a kind of...):

fille; girl; miss; missy; young lady; young woman (a young female)

 Context examples 

He had eaten the ptarmigan chicks.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

As climate warms, however, that sea ice will gradually disappear, robbing the birds of their habitat, food sources, and ability to raise their chicks.

(Unless warming is slowed, emperor penguins will march toward extinction, National Science Foundation)

The scientists identified a concentration gradient of bone morphogenetic protein 7 (Bmp7) across the length of the basilar papilla at the time of chick hair cell formation.

(Hearing different frequencies, NIH)

But the poor young ravens lay upon the ground, flapping their wings, and crying: Oh, what helpless chicks we are!

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

The little chicks had no more than whetted his appetite.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

I'm goin' to get a young devil chick for Challenger.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Ha! mon petit, cried the bowman, you take me back to the days when you were new fledged, as sweet a little chick as ever pecked his way out of a monkish egg.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The researchers suggested that, even though this is the tail of a young dinosaur, the sample shows adult plumage and not a chick's down.

(Scientists find dinosaur feathers preserved in amber, Wikinews)

"You precocious chick! Who put that into your head?" said Jo, enjoying the innocent revelation as much as the Professor.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Like a cuckoo, it lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, and its chick hatches equipped with sharp hooks at the tips of its beak.

(How humans and wild Honeyguide birds call each other to help, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)