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To cut small pieces from; to diminsh or reduce to shape, by cutting away a little at a time; to hew. Shak.

The act or process of cutting or breaking off small pieces, as in dressing iron with a chisel, or reducing a timber or block of stone to shape.

A small American sparrow (Spizella socialis), very common near dwelling; -- also called chipping bird and chipping sparrow, from its simple note.

To make a shop, sharp, cheerful, as of small birds or crickets.

Having a large admixture of small pebbles or gravel; -- said of a soil. Gardner.

A child or babe; as, a forward chit; also, a young, small, or insignificant person or animal. A little chit of a woman. Thackeray.

The frill to the breast of a shirt, which when ironed out resembled the small entrails. See Chitterlings. [Obs.] Gascoigne.

The smaller intestines of swine, etc., fried for food.

A small South American edentate (Chlamyphorus truncatus, and C. retusus) allied to the armadillo. It is covered with a leathery shell or coat of mail, like a cloak, attached along the spine.

The small apple-shaped or pear-shaped fruit of an American shrub (Pyrus arbutifolia) growing in damp thickets; also, the shrub.

In a shotgun, a bore which is tapered to a slightly smaller diameter at a short distance (usually 2½ to 3 inches) to the rear of the muzzle, in order to prevent the rapid dispersion of the shot.

A coil of small resistance and large inductance, used in an alternating-current circuit to impede or throttle the current, or to change its phase; --called also reactance coil or reactor, these terms being now preferred in engineering usage.

A piece chopped off; a slice or small piece, especially of meat; as, a mutton chop.

One of two small sticks of wood, ivory, etc., used by the Chinese and Japanese to convey food to the mouth.

A small job; in the pl., the regular or daily light work of a household or farm, either within or without doors. [U. S.]

A kind of light pastry, usually in the form of a small round cake, and with a filling, as of jelly or cream.

. Christmas box. (a) A box in which presents are deposited at Christmas. (b) A present or small gratuity given to young people and servants at Christmas; a Christmas gift. -- Christmas carol, a carol sung at, or suitable for, Christmas. -- Christmas day. Same as Christmas. -- Christmas eve, the evening before Christ…

Proceeding by the smaller intervals (half steps or semitones) of the scale, instead of the regular intervals of the diatonic scale.

A sudden, small noise.

A clay tobacco pipe, with a long tube. [Slang, Eng.] There was a small wooden table placed in front of the smoldering fire, with decanters, a jar of tobacco, and two long churchwardens. W. Black.