Definitions for chew
tʃuchew

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. chew, chaw, cud, quid, plug, wadnoun

   a wad of something chewable as tobacco

2. chew, chewing, mastication, manductionverb

   biting and grinding food in your mouth so it becomes soft enough to swallow

3. chew, masticate, manducate, jawverb

   chew (food); to bite and grind with the teeth

   "He jawed his bubble gum"; "Chew your food and don't swallow it!"; "The cows were masticating the grass"

WiktionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. chewnoun

   A small sweet, such as a taffy, that is eaten by chewing.

   Phillip purchased a bag of licorice chews at the drugstore.

2. chewnoun

   Chewing tobacco.

   The school had banned chew and smokes from the school grounds, even for adults.

3. chewnoun

   A plug or wad of chewing tobacco; chaw or a chaw.

4. chewverb

   To crush with the teeth by repeated closing and opening of the jaws; done to food to soften it and break it down by the action of saliva before it is swallowed.

5. chewverb

   To grind, tear, or otherwise degrade or demolish something with teeth or as with teeth.

6. chewverb

   To think about something; to ponder; to chew over.

   The professor stood at the blackboard, chalk in hand, and chewed the question the student had asked.

7. Etymology: chewen, from ceowan, from kewwanan, from ǵi̯euh₁- (compare Latin gingiva, Tocharian B śuwaṃ ‘eat’, Polish żuję, Persian, Pashto).

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. To CHEWverb

   Etymology: ceowyan, Sax. kauwen, Dutch.

   1. To grind with the teeth; to masticate.

   If little faults, proceeding on distemper,
   Shall not be wink’d at, how shall we stretch our eye,
   When capital crimes, chew’d, swallow’d, and digested,
   Appear before us. William Shakespeare, Henry V.

   Pacing through the forest,
   Chewing the food of sweet and bitter fancy. William Shakespeare, As you like it.

   This pious cheat, that never suck’d the blood,
   Nor chew’d the flesh of lambs. John Dryden, Fables.

   The vales
   Descending gently, where the lowing herd
   Chews verd’rous pasture. Philips.

   By chewing, solid aliment is divided into small parts: in a human body, there is no other instrument to perform this action but the teeth. By the action of chewing, the spittle and mucus are squeezed from the glands, and mixed with the aliment; which action, if it be long continued, will turn the aliment into a sort of chyle. John Arbuthnot, on Aliments.

   2. To meditate; or ruminate in the thoughts.

   While the fierce monk does at his trial stand,
   He chews revenge, abjuring his offence:
   Guile in his tongue, and murder in his hand,
   He stabs his judge, to prove his innocence. Matthew Prior.

   3. To taste without swallowing.

   Heav’n’s in my mouth,
   As if I did but only chew its name. William Shakespeare, Meas. for Meas.

   Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, with diligence and attention. Francis Bacon, Essay 51.

2. To Chewverb

   To champ upon; to ruminate.

   I will with patience hear, and find a time;
   ’Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this. William Shakespeare, Jul. Cæs.

   Inculcate the doctrine of disobedience, and then leave the multitude to chew upon’t. Roger L'Estrange, Fab. 67.

   Old politicians chew on wisdom past,
   And blunder on in business to the last. Alexander Pope, Epist. 1. l. 244.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. chew

   Chewing or mastication is the process by which food is crushed and ground by teeth. It is the first step of digestion, and it increases the surface area of foods to allow a more efficient break down by enzymes. During the mastication process, the food is positioned by the cheek and tongue between the teeth for grinding. The muscles of mastication move the jaws to bring the teeth into intermittent contact, repeatedly occluding and opening. As chewing continues, the food is made softer and warmer, and the enzymes in saliva begin to break down carbohydrates in the food. After chewing, the food (now called a bolus) is swallowed. It enters the esophagus and via peristalsis continues on to the stomach, where the next step of digestion occurs. Increasing the number of chews per bite increases relevant gut hormones. Studies suggest that chewing may decrease self-reported hunger and food intake. Chewing gum has been around for many centuries; there is evidence that northern Europeans chewed birch bark tar 9,000 years ago. Chewing, needing specialized teeth, is mostly a mammalian adaptation that appeared in early Synapsids, though some later herbivorous dinosaurs, since extinct, had developed chewing too. Nowadays, only mammals chew in the strict sense of the word, though some fishes have a somewhat similar behavior. Neither birds, nor amphibians or any living reptiles chew. Premastication is sometimes performed by human parents for infants who are unable to do so for themselves. The food is masticated in the mouth of the parent into a bolus and then transferred to the infant for consumption. (Some other animals also premasticate.) Cattle and some other animals, called ruminants, chew food more than once to extract more nutrients. After the first round of chewing, this food is called cud. Chewing is important and beneficial for overall health. If food is not chewed correctly it can cause choking and other digestive problems.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. chew

   Chew refers to the process of breaking down food by crushing it between the teeth. It is the first stage of digestion, making it easier to swallow and digest food. Chewing also stimulates the production of saliva, which helps in digestion.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Chewverb

   to bite and grind with the teeth; to masticate

2. Chewverb

   to ruminate mentally; to meditate on

3. Chewverb

   to perform the action of biting and grinding with the teeth; to ruminate; to meditate

4. Chewnoun

   that which is chewed; that which is held in the mouth at once; a cud

5. Etymology: [As cewan, akin to D. kauwen, G. kauen. Cf. Chaw, Jaw.]

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Chew

   chōō, v.t. to cut and bruise with the teeth: to masticate: (fig.) to meditate, reflect.—n. action of chewing: a quid of tobacco.—ns. Chew′et, a kind of pie or pudding made of various ingredients mixed together; Chew′ing-gum, a preparation made from a gum called chicle, produced by a Mexican tree allied to the india-rubber tree, sweetened and flavoured.—Chew the cud, to masticate a second time food that has already been swallowed and passed into the first stomach: to ruminate in thought. [A.S. ceówan; Ger. kauen; cf. Jaw.]

Editors ContributionRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. chew

   To change the form of food.

   Some of us do love to chew chewing gum.

   
   

   Submitted by MaryC on March 20, 2020  

Suggested ResourcesRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. CHEW

   What does CHEW stand for? -- Explore the various meanings for the CHEW acronym on the Abbreviations.com website.

Surnames Frequency by Census RecordsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. CHEW

   According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Chew is ranked #3988 in terms of the most common surnames in America.
   
   The Chew surname appeared 8,905 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 3 would have the surname Chew.
   
   39.7% or 3,535 total occurrences were Asian.
   37.7% or 3,360 total occurrences were White.
   14.5% or 1,295 total occurrences were Black.
   3.8% or 345 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
   3.6% or 329 total occurrences were of two or more races.
   0.4% or 41 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.

British National Corpus

1. Verbs Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'chew' in Verbs Frequency: #1112

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

1. 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How to pronounce chew?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say chew in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of chew in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of chew in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3

Examples of chew in a Sentence

1. Carmela Stamper:

   We recommend supervising your dog with any chew toy or treat, especially one she hasn’t had before, and if she ‘just isn’t acting right,’ call your veterinarian right away!

2. Roland Kays:

   Martens chew on car wires all the time in Europe, it’s a pretty big problem actually.

3. George W. Bush, On TV, about his passing out eating a pretzel:

   Chew before you swallow.

4. Anonymous:

   Bite off more than you can chew, then chew it. Plan more than you can do, then do it.

5. Nancy Pelosi:

   We can walk and chew gum.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=chew
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Chew
3. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=chew
4. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chew
5. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
6. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chew
7. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=chew
8. ^ Surnames Frequency by Census Records
   https://www.census.gov/topics/population/genealogy/data/2010_surnames.html
9. ^ Usage in printed sources
   https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=chew