chig

present singular third person chigs · participle present chigging · participle past chigged · past chigged

1. UKdialectaltransitiveTo chew.

plural chigs

1. UKdialectalA piece of chewing tobacco; a quid.

1. onomatopoeicRepresenting a sharp and repetitive sound.

   Fun fact: The red-bellied woodpecker has a loud, harsh, rich "quirrr" call. It can also be heard calling a "chig-chig" series of notes in a descending chuckle.

   2016 February 18, “Species Spotlight: Red-bellied woodpecker”, in Poughkeepsie Journal, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.: Gannett Co., Inc., →OCLC, archived from the original on 30 May 2023

   4 more examples

   So I'm slicing beans one after the other—chig, chig, chig, chig, chig—and everybody's giving me the beans, and I'm going like sixty when the boss comes by and says, "What are you doing?"

   1985, Richard P[hillips] Feynman, edited by Edward Hutchings, "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character, New York, N.Y.; London: W. W. Norton & Company, published 1997, →ISBN, page 140

   She dragged him along the wide bitumen path and past the slow chig-chig-chig of a lawn sprinkler. Deep inside the school the insect chorus buzzed and drilled: chairs scraping, kids yelling, a teacher's voice calling the roll.

   1994, Glyn Parry, Monster Man, New York, N.Y.: Fawcett Juniper, →ISBN, page 133

   No one had spoken in the taxi. The only sounds were those of the London rain pattering teasingly against the vehicle's rolled-up windows and the ever-present chig-chig-chig of the diesel engine as this silent threesome made their way north towards Mill Hill.

   2001, Mitzi Szereto, “Melinda”, in Kerri Sharp, editor, Wicked Words 4: A Black Lace short-story collection, London: Black Lace, →ISBN, page 174

   The old trading-boat's continuous chig-chig-chigging was a friendly sound, and, by daylight, Su-Li took turns to steer the boat; yet there was often sufficient time for the boy to watch the water-buffalo in the plantations of the Red Basin, the patient stooping of the peasants, and, elsewhere, the bustle of the towns, their fishermen and their overcrowded ferries.

   2004, John Chappell, “Su-Li, the Yangtse Boat Boy”, in 21 Fairy Tales and Other Tales, Lewes, East Sussex: The Book Guild Ltd, →ISBN, page 46