chivvy
Syllables: chiv·vy/ˈt͡ʃɪvi/
chivvy verb: to coerce or hurry along, as by persistent request.
Verb
chivvy (third-person singular simple present chivvies, present participle chivvying, simple past and past participle chivvied)
- To coerce or hurry along, as by persistent request.
- Odd's wouns! it was a proper hunt. Away went my gentlemen, whooping like madmen, with their coat skirts flapping in the breeze, chivying on the dogs and having a rare morning's sport.1889, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Of the Swordsman with the Brown Jacket”, in Micah Clarke: […], London: Longmans, Green, and Co […], →OCLC, page 316
- Some customers could now be relied upon to send in their orders regularly and, apart from having to chivy those who had fallen behind with their payments, this allowed travellers to concentrate their energies on securing new customers and on recovering those who had been lost to competitors.1973, B. W. E. Alford, “A New Generation and a New Firm”, in W. D. & H. O. Wills and the Development of the UK Tobacco Industry, 1786–1965, London: Methuen & Co. Ltd. […], →ISBN; reprinted as...
- To subject to harassment or verbal abuse.
- He wos allus willin fur to give me somethink he wos, though Mrs. Sangsby she was allus a chivying on me—like everybody everywheres.1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, “Stop Him!”, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC, page 447
- So when I was done, and the fishing was as good as the start, I cut a long "staddle," with a bush at the top, and I just went for that school of trout. I chevied, harried and scattered them, up stream and down, until I could not see a fish.1883, “Nessmuk” [pseudonym; George Washington Sears]; Charles F. Orvis and A. Nelson Cheney, compilers, “Trout: Meeting Them on the ‘June Rise’”, in Fishing with the Fly: Sketches by Lovers of the...
- To sneak up on or rapidly approach.
- To pursue as in a hunt.
- to chivvy the fox
- The police were kept out of sight, and the amusements of the mob consisted chiefly in forming bodies which rushed from one end of the Park to the other, to the great injury of other rioters; or in hunting or "chivvying" any footman or remarkable person who should venture among them; some of these...1855, “Riots in Hyde Park”, in The Annual Register, or A View of the History and Politics of the Year 1855, volume XCVII, London: Printed for F[rancis] & J[ohn] Rivington; [et al.], published 1856...
Noun
chivvy (plural chivvies)
- Something that encourages one to act; a goad, a spur.
- Although Mr [Paul] Hatcher is not sure how popular the site will be he has designed it to handle up to 10,000 requests an hour. "It's just there to act as a chivvy to London Underground," he said.2003 September 23, “Web Payback for Delayed Commuters”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 09 Mar 2016
chivvy meaning in Tamil and Malayalam
chivvy in Tamil
- வேட்டையாடல்
chivvy in Malayalam
- nag, harass, badger
- പിൻതുടർന്നു ശല്യപ്പെടുത്തുക, അസഹ്യപ്പെടുത്തുക, തല തിന്നുക, ശല്യം ചെയ്യുക, ക്ലേശിപ്പിക്കുക, അടിക്കടി കുറ്റപ്പെടുത്തുക
Examples of chivvy in a sentence
- [H]e would chivvy us into position, prodding us gently but forcefully with his stick.1983, Bill Oddie, Gone Birding, London: Methuen, page 104:
- For 11 years now he [Tony Blair] has only one approach – to lead from the front and then to confront, challenge, and chivvy the Labour Party into backing him.2005 November 10, Nick Robinson, “Robinson’s View: Blair’s Defeat”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 14 Jun 2017:
- We don't have time to respond to emails or any attempts to chivvy us up – sorry.2007 April 24, “The Albert Sessions”, in BBC, archived from the original on 29 May 2006:
- He rode slowly towards them with a sulky expression on his face, chivvying the polo-ball with small strokes.1934, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 18, in Burmese Days: A Novel (Project Gutenberg Australia; eBook no....
Synonyms of chivvy
Forms of chivvy
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | chivvies |
| present participle | chivvying |
| past participle | chivvied |
| past | chivvied |
| alternative form | chivy |
| alternative form | chevy |
| alternative form | shivvy |
| Noun | |
| plural | chivvies |
Origin of chivvy
From chivy, chevy (“to chase; to race, scamper”), from chivy, chevy (“a chase, hunt, pursuit”), probably from the title of The Ballad of Chevy Chase, first published in The Complaynt of Scotland (1549); the ballad is about a hunt taking place on a chase (“large country estate where game may be hunted”) in the Cheviot Hills between Northumberland and the Scottish Borders, and is thought to allude to the Battle of Otterburn in 1388.
Words formed from chivvy
Words that rhyme with chivvy
Questions about chivvy
- What does chivvy mean?
- Chivvy means to coerce or hurry along, as by persistent request.
- What is chivvy in Tamil?
- Chivvy in Tamil is வேட்டையாடல். See Chivvy meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use chivvy in a sentence?
- [H]e would chivvy us into position, prodding us gently but forcefully with his stick.
- What part of speech is chivvy?
- Chivvy can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce chivvy?
- Chivvy is pronounced /ˈt͡ʃɪvi/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of chivvy?
- The past tense of chivvy is chivvied.
Words near chivvy in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: chivvy (page history and authors); chivvy (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); chivvy (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-chivvy.wav.
Cite this entry: “chivvy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/chivvy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.