/chip/definition

/chip/

-) Verb.

-) Pronunciation: tʃɪp.

-) Etymology: from Middle English chippen.

-) Preterite tense: chipped (tʃɪpt).  Preterite participle: chipped.

-) Present participle: chipping.

-) Transitively: 1. Obsolete: to pare (bread) by cutting away its crust.

-) 2. To hew with a cutting tool, as an ax, chisel, adze, etc. 

One of the men was sitting on an upturned box beside the fire, waiting for the gently-humming kettle to boil; whilst the other was chipping wood outside the house.

Edward Landor… The Bushman 1847

[…] there was cold ham, and chipped beef, and sausages.

James Hall… Legends… 1869

-) 3. To cut one or more small pieces from (something); to break one or more fragments off; to cut or break into fragments; to reduce to chips.

-) Translation: astillar, in Spanish; ébrécher, in French; scheggiare, in Italian.

Near these relicks there is a defaced inscription […] It was defaced, as we were informed, by two Frenchmen, who, because they could not read it themselves, chipped it off out of spite to the British travellers.

John Galt… Voyages and travels 1812

Are you certain now, that the large blue dish for the cake is not chipped at the edges.

Edmund Carrington… Confessions 1828

The rails fencing the lawn from what was termed the park, were rotten, chipped, broken down, or tied together with pack-thread.

Ellen Pickering… The Squire 1837

One of the demonstrators dined with us upon a certain occasion, when a glass was observed to be slightly chipped at the rim, and a remark was made on the delicacy of the blow that had fractured so nicely without destroying the glass.

The Dollar Magazine, vol. 2 1842

The paint was peeling off the rickety old carved galleries; the arabesques over the windows were chipped and worn.

Thackeray… Notes on a Journey… 1845

The Old Red House was the same shadowy, mysterious looking place as heretofore. Though occupied, nothing had been done to sustain or decorate it; indeed, decay seemed going apace in its destruction. Its paint was still more chipped by wind and rain.

Eliza Meteyard… Lilian’s golden hours 1858

-) 4. To cut or break (a small piece or a chip) from something; --with off, from, etc. 

As we walked on, many were the fragments of stones or of soil that Bob picked up, and, as he chipped them with his hammer, we discussed their nature, the order of formations to which they belonged, the metals whose ores they contained, or the chemical or other properties by which they were distinguished.

Robert Douglas… Adventures of a medical student 1848

One sat up and chipped earth from his huge boots with an iron girder he grasped in his hand; the second rested on his elbow; the third whittled a pine tree into shape and made a smell of resin in the air.

Herbert Wells… The Food… 1903

-) 5. To diminish or shape by cutting away small portions; to make (a work) by chipping.

We have never seen a man who could take a round ball, and so chip it off on four sides as to make a square block, and have nothing left.

The Mechanic, Vol. 3 1834

Agates are made into marbles at Oberstein by first chipping the pieces nearly round with a hammer, and then wearing them down upon the face of large grindstones.

American cyclopaedia 1861

-) 6. (Of a chicken) to crack (the egg-shell).

There has it dwelt, since first it chipped the shell, and came forth from the clear brown egg.

The Sporting magazine 1856

-) 7. (Of a player) to put in a chip or chips as one’s share of a stake; stake chips; hence, to make one’s contribution; to contribute; --only in the colloquial combination “chip in”.

After we've all gorged ourselves, Melissa Stromwell steps forward with Ms. Miller's gifts, for which we all chipped in a dollar.

Sarah Quigley… TMI 2009

One of the lads had organised a competition for that evening and we had all chipped in a pound towards the winning prize, which was a candle-lit dinner for two.

Duncan Falconer… First into Action 2010

-) Also as intransitive verb:

The three put a tree on top of the mast and again chipped in for the main meal.

Evan Wilson… Epitaph for a Beautiful Ship 2010

I would like to say a big enormous thank you to everyone who chipped in to make it a more wonderful day.

Varnava… How to Stop Bullying… 2014

-) Intransitively: 1. To make chipping strokes.

Peter opened the letter and read it. Then without a word he gave it open to the Dozent. There was silence in the laboratory while the Dozent read it, silence except for his canary, which was chipping at a lump of sugar.

Mary Rinehart… The Street of Seven Stars 1914

-) 2. (Of a thing) to break in one or more small pieces; to be chipped.

The old peasant so often mentioned in the preceding pages spoke of the inscription as originally cut or scratched upon a thin "tabulet" which hung from a projection on the headstone in the glen. Something like a projection still remains; the tablet is not to be found. The stone itself is of a white flaky substance, which has gradually chipped off, with the moisture of the grotto; and if the tablet were of the same material, this may account for its disappearance.

George Darley… The labours of idleness 1826

-) 3. To chip at: to aim a blow at, hit at; also, to banter; --it is also found with the omission of “at”, and equivalent to “to make (a person) the object of a joke”.

I can distinctly remember an instance not long after that match when Dad chipped me about not doing my homework.

Jim Stynes… My Journey 2012

-) Words derived from chip: chipping, chipper, chipped, unchipped.