Headway Word of the Week
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chew
When you chew your food, you gradually bite it into very small pieces.
- The meat was very tough, so I had to chew it thoroughly before I could swallow it.
Check out collocations
- You can chew gum, meat, and other foods.
- When you're nervous, you might chew your nails
or chew your lips.
Check out phrasal verbs
- Peter made a strong argument that they should close
the factory. It really gave the directors of the company
something to chew on/over when they had their
meeting.
(chew on sth or chew sth over = to really think about something long and carefully) - The photocopier chewed up all the paper.
(= tore up/destroyed)
- The children like chewy sweets.
(=sweets you have to chew, like toffee) - Fiona bit off more than she could chew when
she took on that new job.
(= tried to do something that was too difficult for her. To bite off more than you can chew.) - The old friends were chewing the fat in the
pub. They hadn't met for a long time.
(= talking about old times)
- bite
- swallow
- munch
- gobble
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