▪ I. chewing, vbl. n.
(ˈtʃ(j)uːɪŋ)
[f. chew v. + -ing1.]
1. a. The action of the vb. to chew; mastication. Also fig.
| c 1000 Suppl. ælfric's Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 179 Ruminatio, ciwung, uel edroc, uel aceocung. 1340 Ayenb. 86 Vorzuelȝe wyþoute chewynge. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 74 Chewynge of metys or oþyr þynngys, masticacio. 1592 Greene Upst. Courtier E iij a, You can sup of a coole cup of Sacke without any chewing. 1649 Milton Eikon. xi. (1851) 428 If the kingdom shall tast nothing but after his chewing, what does he make of the kingdom, but a great baby. 1855 Bain Senses & Int. i. ii. §21 [In] chewing..there is a complicated concurrence of movements of the jaw, the tongue, and the cheeks. |
† b. used as
= Tasting.
Obs. rare—1.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 17018 Hering, sight, smelling and fele, cheuing er wittes five. |
2. The action of champing and squeezing any substance between the teeth, without reducing it to pulp, or intending to swallow it;
esp. the habitual practice of so operating upon a quid of tobacco for the sake of the juice.
| 1800 Med. Jrnl. VIII. 131 The habit of chewing. 1842 Dickens Amer. Notes (1850) 78/1 The prevalence of those two odious practices of chewing and expectorating. 1879 Sala in Daily Tel. 26 Dec., Chewing is rapidly going out of fashion, but the quid has still a few votaries left. |
3. attrib. and in
Comb., as
chewing-ball (see
quot.);
chewing-gum (
orig. U.S.), the hardened secretion of the spruce-tree, or other insoluble substance, chewed, after the manner of tobacco, by boys and girls;
chewing-tobacco,
orig. U.S., tobacco suitable for chewing.
| 1708–15 Kersey, *Chewing-balls, little Balls made of several sorts of Druggs, to be chew'd by Horses, in order to recover their Appetite. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. |
| 1850 Chicago Daily Democrat 25 Oct., *Chewing gum! A new and superior preparation of Spruce Gum. 1871 Mark Twain Sketches (Hoppe) Your little brother's ‘chawing gum’. 1882 Chicago Advance 6 Apr. 219 They are the ‘chewing-gum of literature, offering neither savor nor nutriment, only subserving the mechanical process of mastication’. 1883 St. James's Gaz. 16 Nov., Petroleum [is used]..to make the substance known as ‘chewing-gum’. 1949 Economist 5 Nov. 996/2 The Soviet delegate..accused the United States of giving exports of chewing gum priority. |
| 1789 Mass. Sentinel (Boston) 28 Oct. 4/3 *Chewing Tobacco of various kinds. 1909 ‘O. Henry’ Options 200 Which one of you has got any chewing-tobacco? 1921 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 5 Oct. 11/1 (Advt.), Macdonald's Prince of Wales Chewing Tobacco. |
▪ II. ˈchewing, ppl. a. That chews; ruminating.
| 1634 Milton Comus 540 By then the chewing flocks Had ta'en their supper on the savoury herb. |