Chicken ˈtʃɪkɪn Yard Free Range Noun Back Pecking Ground

• they keep chickens in the back yard.
• free-range chickens
• chickens were pecking at the ground.
• the sound of chickens clucking

chicken

1. a large bird that is often kept for its eggs or meat
• COMPARE cock
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/cock_2
• They keep chickens in the back yard.
• free-range chickens
• Chickens were pecking at the ground.
• the sound of chickens clucking

Extra Examples

• A few chickens were scratching around the yard.
• Are we just going to sit here like trussed up chickens?
• Battery chickens have miserable lives.
• Free-range chickens have happy lives.
• a crate of live chickens
2. meat from a chicken
• SEE ALSO coronation chicken
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/coronation-chicken
• fried chicken
• roast/grilled chicken
• succulent pieces of chicken
• chicken and chips
• chicken breasts/wings
• chicken livers/thighs
• chicken nuggets
• a chicken sandwich
• chicken soup
• chicken stock
3. a person who is not brave or is afraid to do something
• He called me a chicken because I wouldn't swim in the river.
4. a situation in which it is difficult to tell which one of two things was the cause of the other
5. used to say that if somebody says or does something bad or wrong, it will affect them badly in the future
6. you should not be too confident that something will be successful, because something may still go wrong
7. to play a game in which people do something dangerous for as long as they can to show how brave they are. The person who stops first has lost the game.
• The children had been playing chicken by running across the railway line.
8. to be very busy and active trying to do something, but not very organized, with the result that you do not succeed

Word Origin

• Old English cīcen, cȳcen, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kieken and German Küchlein, and probably also to cock.