What does "chuck" mean?
Meat from the shoulder of a cow or other animal.
Chuck
/t͡ʃʌk/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Meat from the shoulder of a cow or other animal.
- Grammar: chuck is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: abandon, abjure, abstract, add.
- Useful contrasts: exclude, hold, keep.
- Usage evidence: Uninstall method: Chuck the whole folder into the recycle bin.
How to use "chuck"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "chuck" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "chuck" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "chuck" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "chuck" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "chuck" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "abandon" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "chuck", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Meat from the shoulder of a cow or other animal. countable, uncountable
"Arm chucks represent approximately 54% of the beef forequarters."
- 2 A chicken, a hen. dialectal, obsolete
- 3 A gentle touch or tap.
"She gave him an affectionate chuck under the chin."
- 4 Abbreviation of woodchuck. abbreviation, alt-of
"1976 August, Sylvia Bashline, Woodchucks Are Tablefare Too, Field & Stream, page 50, Chucks are plentiful, and most farmers are glad to have the incurable diggers kept at tolerable population levels. […] For some reason, my family didn′t eat ′chucks. Few families in the area did."
- 5 A small pebble. Scotland
Show 13 more definitions
- 6 a Chuck Taylor All-Stars shoe. informal, plural-normally
"Got Chucks on with Saint Laurent / Gotta kiss myself, I'm so pretty"
- 7 a holding device consisting of adjustable jaws that center a workpiece in a lathe or center a tool in a drill wordnet
- 8 Food. US, countable, dated, slang, uncountable
"“Hambone, how's for chuck?” Hambone removed pipe from mouth, slowly. “Wal, I reckon I still got a few whistleberries left. Some sonofabitch stew mabbe. A few shot biscuits.”"
- 9 A clucking sound.
"The call always starts with a whine, to which the males add from 0 to 6 chucks. In choice tests, females approach calls that contain chucks in preference to calls that contain no chucks."
- 10 A casual throw. informal
- 11 Money. Scotland, in-plural, obsolete, slang
- 12 informal terms for a meal wordnet
- 13 A mechanical device that holds an object firmly in place, for example holding a drill bit in a high-speed rotating drill or grinder. countable, uncountable
"1824, Royal Society of Arts (Great Britain), Transactions, Volume 42, page 88, I have had a chuck of this kind made in brass with the cones of iron, but it is cumbrous and expensive, and does not answer so well, owing to the surface of the iron offering less resistance to the work turning within it. This, perhaps, might be remedied by roughing; but I think the chuck is much better in wood, as it can be made by any common turner at a trifling expense, and possesses more strength than can possibly be required."
- 14 A friend or close acquaintance; term of endearment. slang
"Are you all right, chuck?"
- 15 A throw, an incorrect bowling action. informal
- 16 the part of a forequarter from the neck to the ribs and including the shoulder blade wordnet
- 17 An act or instance of vomiting. slang
- 18 On rhythm guitar or mandolin etc., the muting of a chord by lifting the fretting fingers immediately after strumming, producing a percussive effect.
Verb
- 1 To place in a chuck, or hold by means of a chuck, as in turning.
- 2 To make a clucking sound.
- 3 To touch or tap gently.
"[Y]ou look now as you did before we were married—when you used to walk with me under the Elms, and tell me stories of what a Gallant you were in your youth—and chuck me under the chin you would—and ask me if I thought I could love an old Fellow who would deny me nothing—didn't you?"
- 4 eject the contents of the stomach through the mouth wordnet
- 5 To bore or turn (a hole) in a revolving piece held in a chuck.
Show 13 more definitions
- 6 To call, as a hen her chickens.
"Then crowing clapped his wing, th'appointed call To chuck his wives together in the hall."
- 7 To throw, especially in a careless or inaccurate manner. informal, transitive
"Chuck that magazine to me, would you?"
- 8 pat or squeeze fondly or playfully, especially under the chin wordnet
- 9 To chuckle; to laugh. obsolete
"Who would not chuck to see such pleasing sport. To see such troupes of gallants still resort unto Cornutos shop."
- 10 To throw; to bowl with an incorrect action. intransitive
- 11 throw carelessly wordnet
- 12 To discard, to throw away. informal, transitive
"This food's gone off - you'd better chuck it."
- 13 throw away wordnet
- 14 To jilt; to dump. informal, transitive
"She's chucked me for another man!"
- 15 To give up; to stop doing; to quit. dated, informal, transitive
""When he got religion old Joe stuck every penny away in the Savings Bank, and when he chucked religion he'd draw out the lot and go on a bender that landed him in the horrors, like as not.""
- 16 To vomit. intransitive, slang
- 17 To leave; to depart; to bounce. South-Africa, intransitive, slang
"Let's chuck."
- 18 On rhythm guitar or mandolin etc.: to mute a chord by lifting the fretting fingers immediately after strumming, producing a percussive effect.
Proper Noun
- 1 A form of the male given name Charles, of mostly American usage.
"The digital ads open over a shot of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer, the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, while a narrator declares: “For years, it paralyzed Washington: Partisan political dysfunction.”"
- 2 The city of Edmonton. Canada, slang
Example
"Uninstall method: Chuck the whole folder into the recycle bin."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "chuck"?
Common synonyms include: abandon, abjure, abstract, add, anchorage, attempt.
How do you use "chuck" in a sentence?
Uninstall method: Chuck the whole folder into the recycle bin.
How do you pronounce "chuck"?
Pronounced /t͡ʃʌk/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
Variant of chock.
Etymology 2
From Middle English chuk, of onomatopoeic origin, imitative of a hen's cluck.
Etymology 3
From Middle English chukken, from the noun (see above).
Etymology 4
From earlier chock, likely imitative, but perhaps also from Middle English chokken (“to thrust, pierce, cram”), from Picard Old French chuquier (“to collide, strike”, intransitive verb), from Middle Dutch schocken (“to bump, shake”). Doublet of shock and shuck.
Etymology 5
From woodchuck.
Etymology 6
From chuck (“to toss”).
Etymology 7
Shortening of Edmonchuk. So named because of the large Ukrainian population; -чук (-čuk) is a common suffix in Ukrainian surnames.