chaw
pronunciation
How to pronounce chaw in British English:
UK [tʃɔ:]
How to pronounce chaw in American English:
US [tʃɔ]
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- Noun:
- a wad of something chewable as tobacco
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- Verb:
- chew without swallowing
Word Origin
- chaw (v.)
- 1520s, unexplained phonetic variant of chew (v.). OED points out the variant form chow was "very common in 16-17th c." Bartlett's "Dictionary of Americanisms" [1859] says chaw, "Although found in good authors, ... is retained, in this country as in England, only by the illiterate." Related: Chawed; chawing. The noun meaning "that which is chewed" (especially a quid of tobacco) first recorded 1709.
Example
- 1. Did he chaw up others ?
- 2. Food should be chaw finely before being got down .
- 3. Clinical study of the effect on oral cavity cleaning and infection prevention by chaw gum after operation .
- 4. Care for a chaw of tobacco ?
- 5. Chaw carfully before swallowing down the food .