Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The central forward portion of the lower jaw.
  • intransitive verb To pull (oneself) up with the arms while grasping an overhead horizontal bar until the chin is level with or above the bar.
  • intransitive verb Music To place (a violin) under the chin in preparation to play it.
  • intransitive verb To chin oneself.
  • intransitive verb Informal To make idle conversation; chatter.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The lower extremity of the face below the mouth; the point of the under jaw in man, or a corresponding part in other animals.
  • noun In zoology, the mentum.
  • noun In Rotifera, a ciliated muscular part or process just below the mouth.
  • In gymnastics, to lift the weight of the body by the arms on a horizontal bar until the chin is brought over the bar. Also used transitively: as, to chin the bar.
  • To talk.
  • To talk to, especially with assurance or impudence.
  • An abbreviation of China;
  • Chinese.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The lower extremity of the face below the mouth; the point of the under jaw.
  • noun (Zoöl.) The exterior or under surface embraced between the branches of the lower jaw bone, in birds.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun endearing a chinchilla.
  • noun The bottom of a face, especially, the lower jaw or the region below the mouth.
  • noun slang, US talk.
  • noun slang, UK A falsehood.
  • noun boxing, uncountable The ability to withstand being punched in the face without being knocked out.
  • verb slang, intransitive To talk.
  • verb To perform a chin-up.
  • verb UK, transitive To punch (someone)'s chin (part of the body).

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb raise oneself while hanging from one's hands until one's chin is level with the support bar
  • noun the protruding part of the lower jaw
  • noun Kamarupan languages spoken in western Burma and Bangladesh and easternmost India

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English cin; see genu- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Shortening of chinchilla.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English chin, from Old English ċinn ("chin"), from Proto-Germanic *kinnuz (“chin”) (cf. West Frisian/Dutch kin, German Kinn), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenHw-, *ǵnā(w)- (“jaw”) (cf. Welsh gen, Latin gena, Tocharian A śanwem, Ancient Greek génys 'jaw', Persian چانه (čâne), Sanskrit hánus).

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