Chisel
/ˈt͡ʃɪzəl/ noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Common ·Middle school level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A cutting tool used to remove parts of stone, wood or metal by pushing or pounding the back when the sharp edge is against the material. It consists of a slim, oblong block of metal with a sharp wedge or bevel formed on one end and sometimes a handle at the other end; there are hand tool versions (the original type) and versions as bits for power tools.
- 2 Gravel. uncountable, usually
- 3 an edge tool with a flat steel blade with a cutting edge wordnet
- 4 A part of any of various tools or devices that has an analogous purpose, cutting raw material or a workpiece during the process that the tool or device performs.
- 5 Coarse flour; bran; the coarser part of bran or flour. plural-normally, uncountable, usually
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- 6 A part of any of various tools or devices that has an analogous purpose, cutting raw material or a workpiece during the process that the tool or device performs.; A part of some ploughs, next to the ploughshare, that helps cut into the soil and deal with obstructions such as rocks, roots, and stems.
"Holonyms: plough, plow < implement"
Verb
- 1 To use a chisel. intransitive
- 2 carve with a chisel wordnet
- 3 To work something with a chisel. transitive
"She chiselled a sculpture out of the block of wood."
- 4 deprive somebody of something by deceit wordnet
- 5 To barge in on (something); to intrude on (something). dated, transitive
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- 6 engage in deceitful behavior; practice trickery or fraud wordnet
- 7 To make small changes to (something), bit by bit, resulting in change over time. figuratively, transitive
"Laws that protect the environment are being chiseled away."
- 8 To beg or pressure somebody into giving up (something); to haggle excessively; to cheat; to obtain something from (someone) by cheating. ambitransitive, informal
"He's managed to chisel a couple dollars from somewhere."
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"When the concrete is hard, we use an electric drill instead of a pin chisel."
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English chisel, chesel, from Old Northern French chisel, cisel, from cisoir (with a change in suffix), from Late Latin cīsōrium (“cutting tool”), from Latin caedō (“cut”). Doublet of scissors.
Etymology 2
From Middle English chisel, chesil, from Old English ċeosol, ċeosel, ċysel, ċisel, ċisil (“gravel, sand”), from Proto-West Germanic *kesul (“small stone, pebble”). See also chessom.