chisel
noun
- Tool for cutting and carving wood, stone, metal, or other hard materials
verb
- use a chisel to build something
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈt͡ʃɪzəl/
noun
Etymology: 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.
- Gravel.
- Coarse flour; bran; the coarser part of bran or flour.
verb
Etymology: 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.
- To use a chisel.
- To work something with a chisel.
“She chiselled a sculpture out of the block of wood.”
- To barge in on (something); to intrude on (something).
- To make small changes to (something), bit by bit, resulting in change over time.
“Laws that protect the environment are being chiseled away.”
- 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.”