Chine

//t͡ʃaɪn// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The top of a ridge.
  2. 2
    A steep-sided ravine leading from the top of a cliff down to the sea. Southern-England, Vancouver

    "The cottage in a chine, we were not to behold it."

  3. 3
    backbone of an animal wordnet
  4. 4
    The spine of an animal.

    "And chine with rising bristles roughly spread."

  5. 5
    cut of meat or fish including at least part of the backbone wordnet
Show 6 more definitions
  1. 6
    A piece of the backbone of an animal, with the adjoining parts, cut for cooking.
  2. 7
    A sharp angle in the cross section of a hull.
  3. 8
    A longitudinal line of sharp change in the cross-section profile of the fuselage or similar body.
  4. 9
    A hollowed or bevelled channel in the waterway of a ship's deck.
  5. 10
    The edge or rim of a cask, etc., formed by the projecting ends of the staves; the chamfered end of a stave.
  6. 11
    The back of the blade on a scythe.
Verb
  1. 1
    To cut through the backbone of; to cut into chine pieces. transitive
  2. 2
    To crack, split, fissure, break. obsolete

    "The wayward son did chine his father's heart."

  3. 3
    cut through the backbone of an animal wordnet
  4. 4
    To chamfer the ends of a stave and form the chine.

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English chyne, from Old French eschine, from Frankish *skinu, from Proto-Germanic *skinō. Doublet of shin.

Etymology 2

From Middle English chyne, from Old French eschine, from Frankish *skinu, from Proto-Germanic *skinō. Doublet of shin.

Etymology 3

From Middle English chyne, chynne (“crack, fissure, chasm”), from Old English ċine, ċinu, from Proto-West Germanic *kinu, from Proto-Germanic *kinō.

Etymology 4

From Middle English chynen (“to crack, fissure, split”), from Old English ċīnan (“to break into pieces, burst, crack”), from Proto-West Germanic *kīnan, from Proto-Germanic *kīnaną (“to split; crack; germinate; sprout”).

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