chinning

Verb

chin (third-person singular simple present chins, present participle chinning, simple past and past participle chinned)

1. (dated, intransitive, slang) To talk.
   • “I reckon you can explain, Mrs. Peabody.” […] “An’ I reckon that newcomer you’ve been chinning with could explain if he had a mind to.”1912, Jack London, chapter 5, in Smoke Bellew, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, page 141

   Synonyms:

   gab

2. (dated, slang, transitive) To talk to or with (someone).
   • “Been up chinning your sporting editor, Ragsy Hurd. […]”1911, Henry Sydnor Harrison, chapter 7, in Queed, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, page 85
3. (intransitive, reflexive) To perform a chin-up (exercise in which one lifts one's own weight while hanging from a bar).
   • It is worth noting that on the eighth day he was strong enough to “chin” himself six times in succession, though previous to the fasting treatment he had never in his life been able to do this more than once or twice.1913, Upton Sinclair, The Fasting Cure, New York: Mitchell Kennerley, page 34
4. (UK, transitive) To punch or hit (someone), especially on the chin (part of the body).
   • He told me once that he used to be scared to death every time he started in a hard game for fear he’d get badly injured. Said it wasn’t until someone had jabbed him in the nose or ‘chinned’ him that he forgot to be scared.1915, Ralph Henry Barbour, chapter 14, in Left Tackle Thayer, New York: Dodd, Mead, pages 183–184
5. (transitive) To put or hold (a musical instrument) up to one's chin.
   • Conspicuous in the front rank of “the music” was Joe Lippett, chinning his fife […]1849 September, Alfred Billings Street, “General Training”, in Graham’s American Monthly Magazine of Literature and Art, volume 35, number 3, page 137
6. (transitive) To turn on or operate (a device) using one's chin; to select (a particular setting) using one's chin.
   • I was too tired to argue; I chinned the valve three or four times, felt a blast blistering my face.1958, Robert Heinlein, chapter 8, in Have Space Suit—Will Travel, New York: Del Rey, page 160

See all 21 meanings of chin