chip

plural chips

1. A small piece broken from a larger piece of solid material.

   The floor of the sculptor's studio was strewn with chips of marble.

   1 more example

   The universe is finished; the copestone is on, and the chips were carted off a million years ago.

   1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 3

   Synonyms: flake, fragment, bit, chunk, tranche, clip, crumb, crumbling

2. A damaged area of a surface where a small piece has been broken off.

   This cup has a chip in it.

3. gamblingA token used in place of cash.

   If the second player does raise three chips, and all the other players drop, the player who opened may stay in by putting three more chips in the pot, for then he will have put in precisely as many chips as the second player.

   2002, Albert H. Moorehead, Hoyle′s Rules of Games, page 46

4. A medallion.

   AA chips showing duration of abstinence (6 months)

   2023, Thomas Thurnell-Read, Mark Monaghan, Intoxication: Self, State and Society, page 135

5. datedslangA sovereign (the coin).
6. businessA circuit fabricated in one piece on a small, thin substrate; a microchip.

   1 more example

   1986 September 1, Tom Moran, Lisa L. Spiegelman, New Chip Said to Contain Seven PC AT Chip Functions, InfoWorld, page 5, But sources close to the company said the chip contains two direct memory access controllers, two interrupt controllers, a timer, a memory mapper from Texas Instruments, and a Motorola Inc. real-time clock.

   Synonyms: IC, integrated circuit, microchip, silicon chip

7. businessA hybrid device mounted in a substrate, containing electronic circuitry and miniaturised mechanical, chemical or biochemical devices.

   2 more examples

   2002, Koji Ikuta, Atsushi Takahashi, Kota Ikeda, Shoji Maruo, User-Assembly Fully Integrated Micro Chemical Laboratory Using Biochemical IC Chips for Wearable/Implantable Applications, Yoshinobu Baba, Shuichi Shoji, Albert van den Berg (editors), Micro Total Analysis Systems 2002: Proceedings of the μTAS 2002 Symposium, Volume 1, page 38, Fig. 4(a) shows a schematic design of the micropump chip.

   Fig. 0.3 is an image of the front and back views of a drug delivery microchip made of silicon and painted with gold, with a U.S. dime (10 cents). The chip in the picture consists of 34 nano-sized wells each of which is capable of housing 24 nl (nano liters) of drug. It is possible to make at least 400 wells or even 1000 or more in these chips which are very inexpensive, costing less tham $20 [22, 23].

   2007, Elisabeth S. Papazoglou, Aravind Parthasarathy, Bionanotechnology, page 6

8. AustraliaIrelandNew ZealandUKarchaicplural normallyA deep-fried strip of potato; see also usage note at French fries.

   Fish and chips is a traditional British dish.

   2 more examples

   I always say the best way to judge an establishment is by its chips because if you can’t master that, what can you do?

   2023 July 21, Billie Schwab Dunn, “I Tried Wetherspoons Food for the First Time-I Feared I'd Get Scurvy...”, in Daily Star

   Do you want ketchup, mustard, or mayonnaise on your chips?

   Synonyms: fries, fry, French fry

9. AustraliaCanadaNew ZealandUSespeciallyin pluralA thin, crisp, fried slice of potato, a crisp; occasionally a similar fried slice of another vegetable or dried fruit.

   They made their own potato chips from scratch... He ate a tortilla chip with guac... served with a side of apple chips...

   Synonyms: crisp

10. A type of shot in various sports.
    1. sports such as soccerA shot during which the ball travels more predominantly upwards than in a regular shot, as to clear an obstacle.

       Oxlade-Chamberlain saw his attempted chip well blocked by goalkeeper Costanzo at the start of the second half.

       2011 September 28, Tom Rostance, “Arsenal 2 - 1 Olympiakos”, in BBC Sport

    2. hobbiesA light shot with a downward slice, usually played from close to the net.
    3. golfA low shot, usually played at short range around and onto a green, intended to travel a short distance through the air and roll the remainder of the way towards the hole.
    4. ball gamesA very light shot that hits the cue ball so softly that it barely moves an object ball into a pocket without the cue ball going in as well.
    5. ball gamesA takeout that hits a rock at an angle.
11. A dried piece of dung, often used as fuel.
12. New ZealandNorthernA receptacle, usually for strawberries or other fruit.

    Synonyms: punnet, pottle

13. cookingA small, near-conical piece of food added in baking.

    chocolate chip

14. A small often rectangular patch of colour printed on coated paper, or displayed on a screen, for colour selection and matching.
15. computingSynonym of pill (“rounded rectangle containing a brief text caption”).

    Synonyms: pill

16. nauticalThe triangular piece of wood attached to the log line.
17. historicalWood or Cuban palm leaf split into slips, or straw plaited in a special manner, for making hats or bonnets.
18. archaicderogatoryAnything dried up, withered, or without flavour.
19. The smallest amount; a whit or jot.

    One captain that I sailed with was not a chip better than the one we’re with now.

    1858, R M Ballantyne, The Coral Island

20. A small basket used for packaging fruit.

    He turned suddenly from a chip of strawberries, drew a gold watch from his fob and held it at its chain's length.

    1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 10: Wandering Rocks]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 218

present singular third person chips · participle present chipping · participle past chipped · past chipped

1. transitiveTo chop or cut into small pieces.

   The workers chipped the dead branches into mulch.

   1 more example

   Once it [a snowdrop variety] became established, some bulbs were lifted and passed on to be chipped (i.e. cut into small pieces and grown on).

   2015 February 7, Val Bourne, “The quiet man of the world of snowdrops”, in The Daily Telegraph (London), page G8

2. transitiveTo break small pieces from.

   Be careful not to chip the paint.

3. intransitiveTo become chipped.

   This varnish chips easily.

4. dialectaltransitiveTo chisel (something), to chisel on (something).

   The fitter was chipping and filing a workpiece clamped in his vise.

5. dialectalintransitiveTo use a chisel.

   The fitters were chipping and filing furiously to meet their deadline.

6. transitivehobbiesTo strike or play (the ball or other implement) as a chip shot.

   1 more example

   Koeman identified Southampton’s third as their finest goal of the game. Jack Cork, the most underrated player at a much-lauded club, swept the ball out wide to Tadic, who waited for Cork to run to the back post before chipping the ball across to him to slam in a deserved goal from close range, despite an attempted block by Vito Mannone.

   2014 October 18, Paul Doyle, “Southampton hammer eight past hapless Sunderland in barmy encounter”, in The Guardian

7. transitivesports such as soccerTo beat (an opposing player) by use of a chip shot, such as by looping the ball over the head of the opposing goalkeeper.

   1 more example

   Typically when someone scores a stunning goal this early in the season — it’s only Week 2 — it gets forgotten, or at the very least lost in the shuffle after eight more months of worthy GOTY candidates. Not this year, though, because no one is forgetting Amarikwa chipping Adam Kwarasey from 35 yards out and burying the ball in the top corner.

   2016 March 13, Andy Edwards, “VIDEO: San Jose’s Quincy Amarikwa chips, goes upper-90 from 35 yards out”, in NBCSports.com

8. transitiveball gamesTo move (a ball) a relatively short distance by means of an oblique contact.

   In potting the black, he also managed to chip the red off the side cushion.

9. informaltransitiveTo fit (an animal) with a microchip.
10. transitiveautomotiveTo upgrade an engine management system, usually to increase power.
11. intransitiveoftencard gamesTo ante (up).
12. UKoftentransitiveTo contribute.

    Everyone needs to chip in £1 for George's leaving collection.

13. also to chip atTo make fun of.

    That sounded a trivial message, but the man began to cry. 'That's her', he sobbed. 'She was always chipping me about my collars'.

    1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019

    1 more example

    They chip me about giving that young judy the cross; but I dont care: I stand up to them proper, and tell them that if she hadnt a better right to it than they, she'd be where they are.

    1923, George Bernard Shaw, Saint Joan

14. slangTo kill.

present singular third person chips · participle present chipping · participle past chipped · past chipped

1. UKintransitiveslangTo leave.

   ‘Lloyd, I’m gonna chip.’ ‘You just got here!’ ‘I know–but I gotta chip. Got shit to do.’

   2012, Zadie Smith, NW, London: Penguin Books, published 2013, →ISBN, page 109

1. A diminutive of the male given names Christopher and Charles.

   "What else? Anyway, here's the genealogy: Charles Junior's only son is Charles the Third - like royalty. He goes by Chip - Cassie's daddy. The mom is Cindy. The dead son was Chad - Charles the Fourth." "All Cs," I said. "Sounds like they like order."

   1993, Jonathan Kellerman, Devil's Waltz, Random House, published 1998, →ISBN, page 26

2. A nickname used for males who are second-generation namesakes.

1. abbreviationacronymAcronym of children's health insurance program.
2. abbreviationacronymmedicineAcronym of clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential.

1. abbreviationuncountableAbbreviation of chromatin immunoprecipitation.

1. abbreviationacronymAcronym of California Highway Patrol.

   Synonyms: CHP

plural CHiPs

1. An officer of the California Highway Patrol.

   Synonyms: CHPer