chew

chew1 [ tʃu ] verb **

intransitive or transitive to use your teeth to bite food in your mouth into small pieces so that you can swallow it:

High-fiber foods take longer to chew.

chew on: He was chewing on his meat as if he found it hard to swallow.

a. intransitive or transitive to bite something continuously but not swallow it:

We're not allowed to chew gum in class.

b. transitive if you chew your nails or your lips, you bite them continuously, especially because you are feeling nervous

chew the fat INFORMAL

to have a friendly conversation, often for a long time:

We chewed the fat until the early hours of the morning.

=> BITE OFF

`chew ,on phrasal verb transitive INFORMAL

chew on something to think about something carefully for a long time, before making a decision about it:

The investors have several economic reports to chew on.

,chew `out phrasal verb transitive AMERICAN INFORMAL

to speak angrily to someone because they have done something wrong:

Mom really chewed me out the time I got in a fight.

`chew ,over phrasal verb transitive INFORMAL

to think about something carefully or discuss it carefully with other people before making a decision about it:

Officials meet regularly to chew over the future of the company.

,chew `up phrasal verb transitive

1. ) to chew something for a long time, until it is very soft or in very small pieces and easy to swallow

2. ) usually passive INFORMAL if something gets chewed up, it becomes torn apart and destroyed:

The legs of my new pants got chewed up in my bike chain.

chew

chew 2 [ tʃu ] noun count

1. ) AMERICAN a small amount of tobacco for chewing

2. ) BRITISH a hard candy that you have to chew until it is soft enough to swallow