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chisel

noun
/ˈt͡ʃɪzəl/

Etymology

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.

  1. derived from caedō — “cut”
  2. derived from cīsōrium — “cutting tool”
  3. derived from cisel
  4. inherited from chisel

Definitions

  1. A cutting tool used to remove parts of stone, wood or metal by pushing or pounding the…

    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. A part of any of various tools or devices that has an analogous purpose, cutting raw…

    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.

  3. To use a chisel.

  4. ›+ 6 more definitions

    1. To work something with a chisel.

      • She chiselled a sculpture out of the block of wood.

    2. To barge in on (something)

      To barge in on (something); to intrude on (something).

    3. To make small changes to (something), bit by bit, resulting in change over time.

      • Laws that protect the environment are being chiseled away.

    4. To beg or pressure somebody into giving up (something)

      To beg or pressure somebody into giving up (something); to haggle excessively; to cheat; to obtain something from (someone) by cheating.

      • He's managed to chisel a couple dollars from somewhere.
      • She can always chisel whatever she needs from her father.
      • She's always either chiseling or groveling, it seems.

    5. Gravel.

    6. Coarse flour

      Coarse flour; bran; the coarser part of bran or flour.

The neighborhood

Derived

bog chisel, butt chisel, chisellike, chiselmouth, cold chisel, cope chisel, enchisel, framing chisel, hot chisel, set chisel, skew chisel, chiseler, chiseller, chisel in, chisel out, chisel up, rechisel

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at chisel. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01chisel02pounding03old-fashioned04preferring05preferre06prefer07choosing08choose09pick10pickaxe

A definitional loop anchored at chisel. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

10 hops · closes at chisel

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA