chewed

Verb

chew (third-person singular simple present chews, present participle chewing, simple past chewed, past participle chewed or (rare) chewn)

1. To crush with the teeth by repeated closing and opening of the jaws; done to food to soften it and break it down by the action of saliva before it is swallowed.
   • Make sure to chew thoroughly, and don't talk with your mouth full!

   Synonyms:

   bite, chavel, chomp, crunch, masticate

2. To grind, tear, or otherwise degrade or demolish something with teeth or as with teeth.
   • He keeps his feed in steel drums to prevent the mice from chewing holes in the feed-sacks.

   Synonyms:

   grind, pulverize, rip, shred, tear

3. (informal, uncountable) The condition of something being torn or ground up mechanically.
   • Avoiding Tape Chew. In the early days of the ADAT, the "V" blocks (two arms that thread the tape around the front of the head) could sometimes get out of alignment and "chew" the outside track […]1995, Keyboard, volume 21, numbers 7-12, page 138
4. (informal) To think about something; to ponder; to chew over.
   • The professor stood at the blackboard, chalk in hand, and chewed the question the student had asked.

   Synonyms:

   contemplate, ruminate, mull, muse, ponder

5. To chew tobacco.
   • To reduce cancer risk, it is best that you neither chew nor smoke.

See all 13 meanings of chew