Chowchow

adj, noun, verb, slang

adj, noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A Chinese preserve. countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    a Chinese preserve of mixed fruits and ginger wordnet
  3. 3
    An American relish, containing pickled green tomatoes, cabbage, and often other vegetables. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    chopped pickles in mustard sauce wordnet
  5. 5
    A fruit ketchup countable, uncountable
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    Gossip. countable, obsolete, slang, uncountable
  2. 7
    Alternative form of Chow Chow (“type of dog”). alt-of, alternative, countable, uncountable
Verb
  1. 1
    To gossip. obsolete, slang

    "[…] some ten or twelve fellows were chow chowing and drinking, playing at the Chinese game with their fingers, shouting and yelling like demons."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Consisting of several kinds mingled together; mixed. not-comparable, obsolete, slang

    "chowchow sweetmeats (preserved fruits put together)"

Synonyms

All synonyms
catsupindia relishketchuppiccalilli

Example

More examples

"[…] some ten or twelve fellows were chow chowing and drinking, playing at the Chinese game with their fingers, shouting and yelling like demons."

Etymology

Borrowed from Chinese Pidgin English chow-chow (“food”). Compare Macanese chau-cháu.

Related phrases

chowchow chop

More for "chowchow"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.