chicken

Meat from a farm bird, eaten as food.

• We had chicken for dinner.
• She grilled the chicken with lemon and garlic.
• Would you like a chicken sandwich?

Common phrases: roast chicken, chicken soup, chicken breast

A bird kept on farms or at home for its eggs and meat.

• A chicken laid an egg.
• We keep six chickens in our garden.
• The chickens were pecking at seeds on the ground.

Common phrases: keep a chicken, chicken coop, a young chicken, backyard chicken

A dangerous game where people move towards each other, and the first to avoid a crash loses.

• They played chicken on an empty road.
• A game of chicken can end in a serious crash.
• Never play chicken with a train.

How to use it: play chicken with someone/something (The drivers were playing chicken with each other.)

Common phrases: play chicken, chicken with someone, game of chicken

Too afraid to do something difficult or dangerous.

• Do not be chicken!
• I was too chicken to jump into the lake.
• Are you chicken, or will you try it?

How to use it: too chicken to do something (He was too chicken to climb the ladder.)

Similar words: scared, cowardly

Opposites: brave

Common phrases: be chicken, too chicken, chicken about something