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chisel
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English
A wood chisel
Two cold chisels
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
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.
Noun
chisel (plural chisels)
- 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.
- 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.
- A part of some ploughs, next to the ploughshare, that helps cut into the soil and deal with obstructions such as rocks, roots, and stems.
- Holonyms: plough, plow < implement
- Comeronyms: ploughshare, plowshare, moldboard, mouldboard, coulter, colter
- A part of some ploughs, next to the ploughshare, that helps cut into the soil and deal with obstructions such as rocks, roots, and stems.
Derived terms
Translations
tool consisting of a slim oblong block of metal
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See also
Verb
chisel (third-person singular simple present chisels, present participle chiseling or chiselling, simple past and past participle chiseled or chiselled)
- (intransitive) To use a chisel.
- Synonym: chip (dialectal)
- (transitive) To work something with a chisel.
- Synonym: chip (dialectal)
- She chiselled a sculpture out of the block of wood.
- (transitive, dated) To barge in on (something); to intrude on (something).
- (transitive, figurative) To make small changes to (something), bit by bit, resulting in change over time.
- Synonym: chip away
- Laws that protect the environment are being chiseled away.
- (ambitransitive, informal) 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.
Usage notes
chiselling and chiselled are more common in the UK while chiseling and chiseled are more common in the US.
Derived terms
Translations
to use a chisel
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to work something with a chisel
to cheat — see cheat
Etymology 2
From Middle English chisel, chesil, from Old English ċeosol, ċeosel, ċysel, ċisel, ċisil (“gravel, sand”), from Proto-West Germanic *kesul (“small stone, pebble”). See also chessom.
Alternative forms
Noun
chisel (usually uncountable, plural chisels)
Related terms
- chessom
Further reading
- “chisel”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “chisel”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
- “chisel”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Anagrams
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Middle English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Anglo-Norman chisel.
Pronunciation
Noun
chisel (plural chisels)
- Any of several cutting tools used by stone masons.
Descendants
References
- “chisē̆l, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Old French
Noun
chisel oblique singular, m (oblique plural chiseaus or chiseax or chisiaus or chisiax or chisels, nominative singular chiseaus or chiseax or chisiaus or chisiax or chisels, nominative plural chisel)
- (Old Northern French) alternative form of cisel
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