like a chicken with the pip

English

Pronunciation

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Prepositional phrase

like a chicken with the pip

1. (dated, idiomatic) In a weakened, confused, or sickly manner.
   • 1899, Frank Norris, chapter 4, in Blix:

     Then Condy promptly got the hiccoughs from drinking his tea too fast, and fretted up and down the room like a chicken with the pip.

   • 1907, Stewart Edward White, chapter 15, in Arizona Nights:

     He seemed plumb possessed of gloom, and moped around like a chicken with the pip.

   • 1914, Peter B. Kyne, chapter 6, in The Long Chance:

     Then, after two prodigious parting kicks, accurately gauged and delivered, the gambler crossed over to the hotel, leaving the garrulous one to pick himself out of the dust, gasping like a chicken with the pip.

See also

• like a chicken with its head cut off