Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
CHICKEN-POX — CHIROLOGIST
CHICKEN-POX, n. A mild contagious eruptive disease, generally appearing in children.
CHICKLING, n. A small chick or chicken.
CHICK-PEA, n. A plant or pea, constituting the genus Cicer; a native of Spain, where it is used in olios. It is smaller than the common pea.
CHICK-WEED, n. A plant of the genus Alsine, which includes many species. The common chick-weed, with white blossoms, affords a remarkable instance of the sleep of plants; for, at night, the leaves approach in pairs, and inclose the tender rudiments of the young shoots. The leaves are cooling and nutritive, and are deemed excellent food for persons of a consumptive habit. They are deemed useful also for swelled breasts.
CHIDE, v.t.
1. To scold at; to reprove; to utter words in anger, or by way of disapprobation; to rebuke; as, to chide one for his faults.
2. To blame; to reproach; as, to chide folly or negligence.
To chide from or chide away, is to drive away by scolding or reproof.
CHIDE, v.i.
1. To scold; to clamor; to find fault; to contend in words of anger; sometimes followed by with.
The people did chide with Moses. Exodus 17:2.
2. To quarrel.
3. To make a rough, clamorous, roaring noise; as the chiding flood.
CHIDE, n. Murmur; gentle noise.
CHIDER, n. One who chides, clamors, reproves or rebukes.
CHIDERESS, n. A female who chides.
CHIDING, ppr. Scolding; clamoring; rebuking; making a harsh or continued noise.
CHIDING, n. A scolding or clamoring; rebuke; reproof.
CHIDINGLY, adv. In a scolding or reproving manner.
CHIEF, a.
1. Highest in office or rank; principal; as a chief priest; the chief butler. Genesis 40:9.
Among the chief rulers, many believed on him. John 12:42.
2. Principal or most eminent, in any quality or action; most distinguished; having most influence; commanding most respect; taking the lead; most valuable; most important; a word of extensive use; as a country chief in arms.
The hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass. Ezra 9:2.
Agriculture is the chief employment of men.
3. First in affection; most dear and familiar.
A whisperer separateth chief friends. Proverbs 16:28.
CHIEF, n.
1. A commander; particularly a military commander; the person who heads an army; equivalent to the modern terms, commander or general in chief, captain general, or generalissimo. 1 Chronicles 11:6.
2. The principal person of a tribe, family, or congregation, etc. Numbers 3:24-35; Job 29:25; Matthew 20:27.
3. In chief, in English law, in capite. To hold land in chief is to hold it directly from the king by honorable personal services.
4. In heraldry, chief signifies the head or upper part of the escutcheon, from side to side, representing a man’s head. In chief, imports something borne in this part.
5. In Spenser, it seems to signify something like achievement, a mark of distinction; as, chaplets wrought with a chief.
6. This word is often used, in the singular number, to express a plurality.
I took the chief of your tribes, wise men and known, and made them heads over you. Deuteronomy 1:15.
These were the chief of the officers, that were over Solomons work. 1 Kings 9:23.
In these phrases, chief may have been primarily an adjective, that is, chief men, chief persons.
7. The principal part; the most or largest part, of one thing or of many.
The people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed. 1 Samuel 15:21.
He smote the chief of their strength. Psalm 78:51.
The chief of the debt remains unpaid.
CHIEF, adv. Chiefly.
CHIEFAGE, CHEVAGE, n. A tribute by the head.
CHIEFDOM, n. Sovereignty.
CHIEFLESS, a. Without a chief or leader.
CHIEFLY, adv.
1. Principally; eminently; in the first place.
It chiefly concerns us to obey the divine precepts.
2. For the most part.
In the parts of the kingdom where the estates of the dissenters chiefly lay.
CHIEFRIE, n. A small rent paid to the lord paramount.
CHIEFTAIN, n. A captain, leader or commander; a chief; the head of a troop, army or clan. It is most commonly used in the latter sense. The chieftains of the Highland clans in Scotland, were the principal noblemen and gentlemen.
CHIEFTAINRY, CHIEFTAINSHIP, n. Headship; captaincy; the government over a clan.
CHIEVANCE, n. An unlawful bargain; traffick in which money is extorted.
CHIEVE, CHIVE, v.i. To come to an end; to issue; to succeed.
CHILBLAIN, n. A blain or sore produced by cold; a tumor affecting the hands and feet, accompanied with inflammation, pain, and sometimes ulceration.
CHILD, n.
1. A son or a daughter; a male or female descendant, in the first degree; the immediate progeny of parents; applied to the human race, and chiefly to a person when young. The term is applied to infants from their birth; but the time when they cease ordinarily to be so called, is not defined by custom. In strictness, a child is the shoot, issue or produce of the parents, and a person of any age, in respect to the parents, is a child.
An infant.
Hagar cast the child under one of the shrubs. Genesis 21:15.
It signifies also a person of more advanced years.
Jephthas daughter was his only child. Judges 11:34.
The child shall behave himself proudly. Isaiah 3:5.
A curse will be on those who corrupt the morals of their children.
The application of child to a female in opposition to a male, as in Shakespeare, is not legitimate.
2. One weak in knowledge, experience, judgment or attainments; as, he is a mere child.
Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child. Jeremiah 1:6.
3. One young in grace. 1 John 2.
One who is unfixed in principles. Ephesians 4:14.
4. One who is born again, spiritually renewed and adopted; as a child of God.
5. One who is the product of another; or whose principles and morals are the product of another.
Thou child of the devil. Acts 13:10.
That which is the product or effect of something else.
This noble passion, child of integrity.
6. In the plural, the descendants of a man however remote; as the children of Israel; the children of Edom.
7. The inhabitants of a country; as the children of Seir. 2 Chronicles 25:11.
To be with child, to be pregnant. Genesis 16:11.
CHILD, v.i. To bring children.
CHILD-BEARING, a. or ppr. [See Bear.] Bearing or producing children.
CHILD-BEARING, n. The act of producing or bringing forth children; parturition.
CHILDBED, n. The state of a woman bringing forth a child or being in labor; parturition.
CHILDBIRTH, n. The act of bringing forth a child; travail; labor; as the pains of childbirth.
CHILDED, a. Furnished with a child.
CHILDERMAS DAY, n. An anniversary of the church of England, held on the 28th of December, in commemoration of the children of Bethlehem slain by Herod; called also Innocents Day.
CHILDHOOD, n.
1. The state of a child, or the time in which persons are children, including the time from birth to puberty. But in a more restricted sense, the state or time from infancy to puberty. Thus we say, infancy, childhood, youth and manhood.
Childhood and youth are vanity. Ecclesiastes 11:10.
2. The properties of a child.
CHILDING, ppr. Bearing children; producing; as childing women.
CHILDISH, a.
1. Belonging to a child; trifling; puerile.
When I became a man, I put away childish things. 1 Corinthians 13:11.
2. Pertaining to a child; as childish yeas or age; childish sports.
3. Pertaining to children; ignorant; silly; weak; as childish fear.
CHILDISHLY, adv. In the manner of a child; in a trifling way; in a weak or foolish manner.
CHILDISHNESS, n. Triflingness, puerility, the state or qualities of a child, in reference to manners. But in reference to the mind, simplicity, harmlessness, weakness of intellect.
CHLDLESS, a. Destitute of children or offspring. 1 Samuel 15:33.
CHILDLIKE, a. Resembling a child or that which belongs to children; becoming a child; meek; submissive; dutiful; as childlike obedience.
CHILDLY, a. Like a child.
CHILDREN, n. plu. Of child.
CHILIAD, n.
1. A thousand; a collection or sum, containing a thousand individuals or particulars.
2. The period of a thousand years.
CHILIAGON, n. A plain figure of a thousand angles and sides.
CHILIAHEDRON, n. A figure of a thousand equal sides.
CHILIARCH, n. A body consisting of a thousand men.
CHILIAST, n. One of the sect of Millenarians.
CHILIFACTIVE. [See Chylifactive.]
CHILIOLITER. [See Kiloliter.]
CHILIOMETER. [See Kilometer.]
CHILL, n.
1. A shivering with cold; rigors, as in an ague; the cold fit that precedes a fever; sensation of cold in an animal body; chilliness. [See Cold and Heat.]
2. A moderate degree of cold; chilliness in any body; that which gives the sensation of cold.
CHILL, a.
1. Cool; moderately cold; tending to cause shivering; as the chill vapors of night.
2. Shivering with cold.
My chill veins freeze with despair.
3. Cool; distant; formal; dull; not warm, animated or affectionate; as a chill reception.
4. Depressed; dispirited; dejected; discouraged.
CHILL, v.t.
1. To cause a shivering, or shrinking of the skin; to check circulation or motion; as, to chill the blood, or the veins. The force of this word lies in expressing the shivering and shrinking caused by cold.
2. To make cold, or cool; as, the evening air chills the earth.
3. To blast with cold; to check the circulation in plants, and stop their growth.
4. To check motion, life or action; to depress; to deject; to discourage; as, to chill the gayety of the spirits.
CHILLED, pp. Made cool; made to shiver; dejected.
CHILLI, n. A Mexican plant, Guinea pepper.
CHILLINESS, n.
1. A sensation of shivering; rigors.
2. A moderate degree of coldness; as the chilliness of the air, which tends to cause a shivering.
CHILLING, ppr. Cooling; causing to shiver.
CHILLNESS, n. Coolness; coldness; a shivering.
CHILLY, a. Cool; moderately cold, such as to cause shivering; as a chilly day, night, or air.
CHILOGRAM. [See Kilogram.]
CHIMB, n. [See Chime.]
CHIME, n.
1. The consonant or harmonic sounds of several correspondent instruments.
Instruments that made melodious chime.
2. Correspondence of sound.
Love - harmonized the chime.
3. The musical sounds of bells, struck with hammers.
4. Correspondence of proportion or relation.
5. A kind of periodical music, or tune of a clock, produced by an apparatus annexed to it.
6. A set of bells which chime, or ring in harmony.
CHIME, v.i.
1. To sound in consonance or harmony; to accord.
To make the rough recital aptly chime.
2. To correspond in relation or proportion.
Father and son, husband and wife, correlative terms, do readily chime.
3. To agree; to fall in with.
He often chimed in with the discourse.
4. To agree; to suit with.
5. To jingle; to clatter.
The sely tonge may wel ringe and chimbe.
CHIME, v.t.
1. To move, strike, or cause to sound in harmony.
2. To strike or cause to sound, as a set of bells.
CHIME, n. The edge or brim of a cask or tub, formed by the ends of the staves.
CHIMER, n. One who chimes.
CHIMERA, n.
1. In fabulous history, a monster with three heads, that of a lion, of a goat, and of a dragon, vomiting flames. The foreparts of the body wee those of a lion, the middle was that of a goat, and the hinder parts were those of a dragon; supposed to represent a volcanic mountain in Lycia, whose top was the resort of lions, the middle, that of goats, and the foot, that of serpents. Hence,
2. In modern usage, a vain or idle fancy; a creature of the imagination, composed of contradictions or absurdities, that can have no existence except in thought.
CHIMERICAL, a. Merely imaginary; fanciful; fantastic; wildly or vainly conceived; that has, or can have no existence except in thought.
CHIMERICALLY, adv. Wildly; vainly; fancifully; fantastically.
CHIMICAL, a. [See Chimistry.]
1. Pertaining to chimistry; as a chimical operation.
2. Resulting from the operation of the principles of bodies by decomposition, combination, etc.; as chimical changes.
3. According to the principles of chimistry; as a chimical combination.
CHIMICALLY, adv. According to chimical principles; by chimical process or operation.
CHIMINAGE, n. In law, a toll for passage through a forest.
CHIMING, ppr. Causing to chime; sounding in accordance.
CHIMIST, n. A person versed in chimistry; a professor of chimistry.
CHIMISTRY, n. Chimistry is a science, the object of which is to discover the nature and properties of all bodies by analysis and synthesis.
Chimistry is that science which explains the intimate mutual action of all natural bodies.
Analysis or decomposition, and synthesis or combination, are the two methods which chimistry uses to accomplish its purposes.
Chimistry may be defined, the science which investigates the composition of material substances, and the permanent changes of constitution which their mutual actions produce.
Chimistry may be defined, that science, the object of which is to discover and explain the changes of composition that occur among the integrant and constituent parts of different bodies.
Chimistry is the science which treats of those events and changes in natural bodies, which are not accompanied by sensible motions.
Chimistry is justly considered as a science, but the practical operations may be denominated an art.
CHIMNEY, n.
1. In architecture, a body of brick or stone, erected in a building, containing a funnel or funnels, to convey smoke, and other volatile matter through the roof, from the hearth or fire-place, where fuel is burnt. This body of materials is sometimes called a stack of chimneys, especially when it contains two or more funnels, or passages.
2. A fireplace; the lower part of the body of brick or stone which confines and conveys smoke.
CHIMNEY-CORNER, n.
1. The corner of a fire-place, or the space between the fire and the sides of the fire-place. In the Northern States of America, fire-places were formerly made six or eight feet wide, or even more, and a stool was placed by the side of the fire, as a seat for children, and this often furnished a comfortable situation for idlers. As fuel has become scarce, our fire-places are contracted, till, in many or most of our dwellings, we have no chimney-corners.
2. In a more enlarged sense, the fire-side, or a place near the fire.
CHIMNEY-HOOK, n. A hook for holding pots and kettles over a fire.
CHIMNEY-MONEY, n. Hearth-money, a duty paid for each chimney in a house.
CHIMNEY-PIECE, n. An ornamental piece of wood or stone set round a fire-place.
CHIMNEY-SWEEPER, n. One whose occupation is to sweep and scrape chimneys, to clean them of the soot that adheres to their sides.
CHIMPANZEE, n. An animal of the ape kind, a variety of the ourang-outang.
It is now considered a distinct species.
CHIN, n. The lower extremity of the face below the mouth; the point of the under jaw.
CHINA, n. A species of earthern ware made in China, and so called from the country; called also china ware and porcelain. [See Porcelain.]
CHINA-ORANGE, n. The sweet orange, said to have been originally brought from China.
CHINA-ROOT, n. The root of a species Smilax, brought from the East Indies, of a pale reddish color, with no smell, and very little taste.
CHINCH, n. A genus of insects, resembling the feather-wing moths. These insects live in the flowers of plants, and wander from flower to flower, but prefer those which are sweetest.
CHIN-COUGH, n. A contagious disease, often epidemic among children. It increases for some weeks, is attended with a difficulty of breathing, and in its worst stage, with a degree of convulsion. From a particular noise made in coughing, it is also called hooping cough.
CHINE, n.
1. The back-bone, or spine of an animal.
2. A piece of the back-bone of an animal, with the adjoining parts, cut for cooking.
3. The chime of a cask, or the ridge formed by the ends of the staves.
CHINE, v.t. To cut through the back-bone, or into chine-pieces.
CHINED, a. Pertaining to the back.
CHINESE, a. Pertaining to China.
CHINESE, n. sing. and plu. A native of China; also, the language of China.
CHINGLE, n. Gravel free from dirt. [See Shingle.]
CHINK, n. A small aperture lengthwise; a cleft, rent, or fissure, of greater length than breadth; a gap or crack; as the chinks of a wall.
CHINK, v.i. To crack; to open.
CHINK, v.t. To open or part and form a fissure.
CHINK, v.t. [See Jingle.] To cause to sound by shaking coins or small pieces of metal, or by bringing small sonorous bodies in collision; as, to chink a purse of money.
CHINK, v.i. To make a small sharp sound, as by the collision of little pieces of money, or other sonorous bodies.
CHINKAPIN, n. The dwarf chestnut, Fagus pumila, a tree that rises eight or ten feet, with a branching shrubby stem, producing a nut.
CHINKY, a. Full of chinks, or fissures; gaping; opening in narrow clefts.
CHINNED, a. Having a long chin.
CHINSE, v.t. In naval affairs, to thrust oakum into the seams or chinks of a ship with a chisel or point of a knife, as a temporary expedient for calking.
CHINTS, n. Cotton cloth, printed with more than two colors.
CHIOPPINE, n. A high shoe, formerly worn by ladies.
CHIP, CHEAP, CHIPPING, in the names of places, imply a market; from Sax. Ceapan, cypan, to buy or sell. [See Cheap.]
CHIP, n.
1. A piece of wood or other substance, separated from a body by cutting instrument, particularly by an ax. It is used also for a piece of stone separated by a chisel or other instrument, in hewing.
2. A fragment or piece broken off; a small piece.
CHIP, v.t. To cut into small pieces, or chips; to diminish by cutting away a little at a time, or in small pieces; to hew.
CHIP, v.i. To break or fly off in small pieces, as in potters ware.
CHIP-AX, n. An ax for chipping.
CHIPPED, pp. Cut in chips, or small pieces; hewed.
CHIPPING, n.
1. A chip; a piece cut off or separated by a cutting or engraving instrument; a fragment.
2. The flying or breaking off in small pieces, of the edges of potters ware, and porcelain.
CHIRAGRICAL, a. Having the gout in the hand, or subject to that disease.
CHIRK, a. Lively; cheerful; in god spirits; in a comfortable state.
CHIRK, v.i. To chirp.
CHIRM, v.i. To sing as a bird.
CHIROGRAPH, n.
1. Anciently a deed, which, requiring a counterpart, was engrossed twice on the same piece of parchment, with a space between, in which was written chirograph, through which the parchment was cut, and one part given to each party. It answered to what is now called a charter-party.
2. A fine, so called from the manner of engrossing, which is still retained in the chirographers office in England.