noun
- the lower extremity of the face, below the mouth.
- the prominence of the lower jaw.
- Informal. chin-up.
verb (used with object), chinned, chin·ning.
- Gymnastics.
- to bring one’s chin up to (a horizontal bar, from which one is hanging by the hands), by bending the elbows.
- to raise (oneself) to this position.
- to raise or hold to the chin, as a violin.
- Archaic. to talk to; chatter with.
verb (used without object), chinned, chin·ning.
- Gymnastics. to chin oneself.
- Slang. to talk; chatter: We sat up all night chinning about our college days.
- keep one’s chin up, to maintain a cheerful disposition in spite of difficulties, disappointments, etc.Also chin up.
- take it on the chin, Informal.
- to suffer defeat; fail completely.
- to endure suffering or punishment.
adjective
- having a receding chin
- weak or ineffectual
noun
- the protruding part of the lower jaw
- the front part of the face below the lipsRelated adjective: genial
- keep one’s chin up to keep cheerful under difficult circumstancesSometimes shortened to: chin up!
- take it on the chin informal to face squarely up to a defeat, adversity, etc
verb chins, chinning or chinned
- gymnastics to raise one’s chin to (a horizontal bar, etc) when hanging by the arms
- (tr) informal to punch or hit (someone) on the chin
Old English cin, cinn “chin” (but in some compounds suggesting an older, broader sense of “jawbone”); a general Germanic word (cf. Old Saxon and Old High German kinni; Old Norse kinn; German Kinn “chin;” Gothic kinnus “cheek”), from PIE root *genu- “chin, jawbone” (cf. Sanskrit hanuh, Avestan zanu- “chin;” Armenian cnawt “jawbone, cheek;” Lithuanian žándas “jawbone;” Greek genus “lower jaw,” geneion “chin;” Old Irish gin “mouth,” Welsh gen “jawbone, chin”).
1590s, “to press (affectionately) chin to chin,” from chin (n.). Meaning “to bring to the chin” (of a fiddle) is from 1869. Slang meaning “talk, gossip” is from 1883, American English. Related: Chinned; chinning. Athletic sense of “raise one’s chin over” (a raised bar, for exercise) is from 1880s.
n.
- The prominence formed by the anterior projection of the lower jaw.
see keep one’s chin up; lead with one’s chin; take it on the chin.