CHICKEN

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does chicken mean? 

• CHICKEN (noun)
  The noun CHICKEN has 4 senses:

1. the flesh of a chicken used for food

2. a domestic fowl bred for flesh or eggs; believed to have been developed from the red jungle fowl

3. a person who lacks confidence, is irresolute and wishy-washy

4. a foolhardy competition; a dangerous activity that is continued until one competitor becomes afraid and stops

  Familiarity information: CHICKEN used as a noun is uncommon.

• CHICKEN (adjective)
  The adjective CHICKEN has 1 sense:

1. easily frightened

  Familiarity information: CHICKEN used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CHICKEN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The flesh of a chicken used for food

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

chicken; poulet; volaille

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

poultry (flesh of chickens or turkeys or ducks or geese raised for food)

Meronyms (parts of "chicken"):

breast; white meat (meat carved from the breast of a fowl)

chicken wing (the wing of a chicken)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "chicken"):

broiler (flesh of a small young chicken not over 2 1/2 lb suitable for broiling)

capon (flesh of a castrated male chicken)

frier; fryer; pullet (flesh of a medium-sized young chicken suitable for frying)

roaster (flesh of a large young chicken over 3 1/2 lb suitable for roasting)

spatchcock (flesh of a chicken (or game bird) split down the back and grilled (usually immediately after being killed))

hen (flesh of an older chicken suitable for stewing)

Holonyms ("chicken" is a part of...):

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

Sense 2

Meaning:

A domestic fowl bred for flesh or eggs; believed to have been developed from the red jungle fowl

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

chicken; Gallus gallus

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

domestic fowl; fowl; poultry (a domesticated gallinaceous bird thought to be descended from the red jungle fowl)

Meronyms (parts of "chicken"):

chicken; poulet; volaille (the flesh of a chicken used for food)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "chicken"):

biddy; chick (young bird especially of domestic fowl)

cock; rooster (adult male chicken)

capon (castrated male chicken)

biddy; hen (adult female chicken)

spring chicken (a young chicken having tender meat)

Rhode Island red (American breed of heavy-bodied brownish-red general-purpose chicken)

Dominick; Dominique (American breed of chicken having barred grey plumage raised for meat and brown eggs)

Orpington (English breed of large chickens with white skin)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A person who lacks confidence, is irresolute and wishy-washy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

chicken; crybaby; wimp

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

doormat; weakling; wuss (a person who is physically weak and ineffectual)

Derivation:

chicken (easily frightened)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A foolhardy competition; a dangerous activity that is continued until one competitor becomes afraid and stops

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

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

competition; contest (an occasion on which a winner is selected from among two or more contestants)

• CHICKEN (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Easily frightened

Synonyms:

chicken; chickenhearted; lily-livered; white-livered; yellow; yellow-bellied

Similar:

cowardly; fearful (lacking courage; ignobly timid and faint-hearted)

Domain usage:

colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)

Derivation:

chicken (a person who lacks confidence, is irresolute and wishy-washy)

 Context examples 

A cancer vaccine made with a form of a chicken virus that does not cause disease in humans.

(Falimarev, NCI Dictionary)

The fully-grown leghorn chicken averages 3-6 pounds in weight and is characterized by being noisy, flighty, and easily excited.

(Leghorn Chicken, NCI Thesaurus)

If you are really lucky, your mother or a friend might prepare homemade chicken soup for you.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

E. hirae was isolated from chicken and pig intestines and though rare, is pathogenic in humans.

(Enterococcus hirae, NCI Thesaurus)

So she ran into the cellar again, took an enormous drink and ate up the one chicken in great glee.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

E. durans is pathogenic in chickens but is rarely shown to be pathogenic in humans.

(Enterococcus durans, NCI Thesaurus)

There will be chickens, pigs, vegetables, fruit trees, and everything like that; and there will be enough cows to pay for a hired man or two.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

“Mrs. Hudson has risen to the occasion,” said Holmes, uncovering a dish of curried chicken.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The new technology could help fight Salmonella, a bacterium that infects about one per cent of chicken eggs and can cause severe gut infections, with symptoms including fever, nausea, and vomiting.

(Protective bio-shell could extend egg shelf life, SciDev.Net)

The eldest Miss Larkins is not a chicken; for the youngest Miss Larkins is not that, and the eldest must be three or four years older.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)