Forms: 1 céowan, 3 cheowen, cheouwen, chewwenn (Orm.), 3–5 chewen, 3–6 chewe, (4 chyewe, 5 schewe), 5– chew. See also variants CHAW, CHOW. [OE. céowan, pa. t. céaw, cuwon, pa. pple. cowen, corresp. to OHG. chiuwan, kiuwan, pa. t. kou, kūwun, gikūwan, kiuwan:—OTeut. *kewwan. The original strong pa. t. and pa. pple. appear not to have come down into ME.; an analogical pple. chewen occurs however in 16th c.]
1. trans. To crush, bruise and grind to pulp, by the continued action of the molar teeth, with help of the tongue, cheeks and saliva.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., I. 510 (Bosw.). He het hine ceowan mid toþum his fingras. Ibid., I. 404. Hi cuwon heora girdlas, and gærs æton.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 80. Hwose cheouweð spices.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Miller’s T., 504. But first he cheweth greyn and lycoris, To smellen sweete.
1601. Cornwallyes, Ess. (1632), xxiv. Barre some fellow from chewing a sticke.
1710. J. Clarke, Rohault’s Nat. Phil. (1729), I. 175. It excites but a very small Sensation in those who chew the Wood.
1838. T. Thomson, Chem. Org. Bodies, 803. No astringency is perceived when a piece of it is chewed.
1839. E. D. Clarke, Trav. Russia, 102/1. To lead a very idle life, smoking, taking coffee, chewing tobacco or opium, [etc.].
1865. Livingstone, Zambesi, xix. 398. They frequently chew the branches for the bark and the sap alone.
b. In early times often equivalent to gnaw.
a. 1000. Soul’s Address, 72 (Gr.). Þec sculun moldwyrmas ceowan.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 183. Iuele wurmes mote þe chewe.
2. esp. To perform this operation upon (food), in preparation for swallowing it; to masticate. Sometimes, To eat with chewing, devour.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XVIII. 199. Let hem chewe as þei and chide we not, susteres, For hit is a botless bale þe byte þat þei eten.
1450–1530. Myrr. Our Ladye, 40. Bodely meate is not ryght profytable, but yf yt be wel chewyd.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., IV. iii. 102. Chewing the food of sweet and bitter fancie.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., III. xxxii. 195. Pills … chewed, are for the most part cast up again without effect.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), III. 349. These [teeth] also seem better adapted for tearing and chewing, than those of the cat kind are.
1879. Froude, Cæsar, xv. 247. I am chewing what I have to swallow.
b. To masticate for another.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VI. ix. (1495), 195. The moder chewyth meete in her mouth and makyth it redy to the tothlees chylde that he may the easylyar swolowe the meete.
1552. [see CHEWED].
1713. Steele, Englishman, No. 15. 101. Chew or cut it small, that the Lion may swallow it safely.
3. fig. and transf. in many applications:
a. by simile.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. III. 140. Holy churche, and charite ȝe cheweþ and deuoureþ. Ibid., VII. 154 (MS. F). I spak no speche it swal so my breste þat I chewed it as a cowe þat code chewith ofte.
1597. Bacon, Ess. Studies (Arb.), 8. Some bookes are to bee tasted, others to bee swallowed, and some few to bee chewed and disgested.
1696. Evelyn, in Pepys, Corr., 3 Dec. I have of late been chewing over some old stories.
b. in reference to spiritual food: To meditate on.
c. 1200. Ormin, 1241. Forr þe to ȝifenn bisne þatt te birrþ ummbeþennkenn aȝȝ & chewwenn i þin heorrte Hu þu mihht cwemenn þin Drihhtin.
c. 1410. Love, Bonavent. Mirr. (Sherard MS.). Gostly chewynge in þat manere the gospell of crist.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 174. The commaundementes of god, of the whiche we must fede dayly, and chewe them in our hertes, by ofte meditacyon.
c. in reference to counsels, opinions, statements, etc.: To consider or examine deliberately (as a process preliminary to swallowing and digesting them).
1579. Tomson, Calvin’s Serm. Tim., 367/1. It is good … to haue thinges well chewed, that we may the better digest them.
1626. Sir C. Cornwallis, Disc. Prince Henry, in Harl. Misc. (1641), III. 522. Counsels are to be chewed not swallowed.
1663. J. Spencer, Prodigies (1665), 397. The Romans of old, though as apt to swallow such prodigious stories as any, yet used to chew them first by a serious examination.
1678. Cudworth, Intell. Syst., 560. Nor scrupulously chew or examine any thing.
d. in reference to plans, etc.: To meditate, devise or plan deliberately.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., II. ii. 56. Capitall crimes, chew’d, swallow’d, and digested.
1682. Dryden, Duke of Guise, I. iii. If while alive, I cease to chew their ruin.
1718. Prior, To Mr. Harley, 285. He chews Revenge.
e. in reference to words: To take or retain in the mouth; to keep saying or mumbling over.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., II. iv. 5. Heauen in my mouth, As if I did but onely chew his name.
1833. Marryat, P. Simple, xxxix. Her mother was startled when she put the question to her, and chewed it, and cursed her when she insisted upon the truth.
† f. To chew to (a person): (cf. 2 b); to reduce (anything) to a condition ready for another’s use, to prepare (words, etc.) for another to utter. Obs.
1594. Carew, trans. Huarte’s Exam. Wits, xi. (1616), 156. Lawyers … if the cases which the law thrusteth into their mouth bee not squared and chewed to their hands, they are to seeke what to doe.
1641. Milton, Animadv., ii. Wks. (1847), 60/1. A minister that can not be trusted to pray in his own words without being chewed to … should as little be trusted to preach.
4. To chew the cud: of certain quadrupeds, to bring back into the mouth and masticate the food that has been coarsely bruised and swallowed into a first stomach; to ruminate.
In OE. the simple céowan is so used; the Ayenb. has eftchyewe.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Lev. xi. 3. Ðæt hiʓ eton þa nytenu þe hira clawe todælede beoþ and ceowaþ. Ne ete ʓe þa þing þe ceowaþ, and clawe ne todælaþ.
c. 1200. Ormin, 1236. Oxe chewweþþ … Hiss cude.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1958. O beist has clouen fote in tua An chewand cude, ȝee ete o þaa.
1340. Ayenb., 86. Efterward me ssel þesne mete eft chyewe ase þe oxe þet gers þet he heþ vorzuelȝe.
1382. Wyclif, Lev. xi. 3. Alle that han the clee dyuydid, and chewith kude.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., I. 16. Like so many Ginny-Pigs, munching and chewing the cud.
1834. M. Scott, Cruise Midge (1859), 295. The cattle … stood listlessly chewing their cuds.
b. fig. To ‘ruminate.’
1382. Wyclif, Hosea vii. 14. Thei chewiden cud vpon whete, and wyne, and departiden fro me.
1547. Homilies, I. Exhort. Holy Script., II. (1859), 15. Let vs ruminate, and (as it were) chewe the cudde that wee maye haue the sweete iewse & consolation of them.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, XVIII. iii. Having left her a little while to chew the cud, if I may use that expression, on these first tidings.
1768. Smollett, Humph. Cl., let. 15 July. To chew the cud of reflection.
1829. Southey, O. Newman, vii. And in all outward patience chew the while The cud of bitter thoughts.
1876. Maxwell, in Life, xiv. 445. Even thought, in articulately speaking men, is occupied rather in methodising our perceptions than in chewing the cud of our sensations.
1880. Miss Broughton, Sec. Th., I. I. xii. 204. She is dismally chewing the cud of sour reflection.
† 5. To worry with reproaches, etc.; ‘to jaw’ (Cockayne). Obs. rare.
c. 1230. Hali Meid., 31. Chit te & cheoweð þe & schent te schomeliche.
6. intr. To perform the action described in 1, 2; to exercise the jaws and teeth (on, upon anything); to bite, champ.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XVI. 46. Ac of þese metes þis maister myghte not wel chewe.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, II. ci. 287. The same chewen upon maketh one to avoyde much flegme.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., II. ii. 26. The veriest Varlet that euer chewed with a Tooth.
1608. Yorksh. Trag., I. ii. 199. That mortgage sits like a snaffle upon mine inheritance and makes me chew upon iron.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., II. xxix. 288. The cartilaginous parts of the fore-flippers were cut off in the mêlée, were passed round to be chewed upon.
7. fig. To exercise the mind, meditate, ruminate upon, on, occas. at.
1580. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 351. I haue more desire to chew vpon melancholy, then to dispute vpon Magicke.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., I. ii. 171. Chew vpon this.
1649. Selden, Laws Eng., II. viii. (1739), 49. I shall only leave the Reader to chew upon the point.
1732. Pope, Ep. Cobham, 244. Old Politicians chew on Wisdom past And blunder on in Business to the last.
1823. Lamb, Elia, Ser. II. vi. (1865), 271. To chew upon his new-blown dignities.
1883. ‘Mark Twain,’ Mississippi, liii. When you come to … chew at it and think it over.
8. To chew up: to demolish. Cf. CHAW v. 3.
1837–40. Haliburton, Clockm. (1862), 391. I felt as if I could chew him right up, I was so mad.
