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chisel

Pronunciation: /ˈt͡ʃɪzəl/

The English word “chisel” has 10 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A cutting tool used to remove parts of stone, wood or metal by pushing or pounding the back when the sharp edge is against the material. It consists of a slim, oblong block of metal with a sharp wedge or bevel formed on one end and sometimes a handle at the other end; there are hand tool versions (the original type) and versions as bits for power tools.
  2. A part of any of various tools or devices that has an analogous purpose, cutting raw material or a workpiece during the process that the tool or device performs.
  3. A part of some ploughs, next to the ploughshare, that helps cut into the soil and deal with obstructions such as rocks, roots, and stems.
  4. Gravel.
  5. Coarse flour; bran; the coarser part of bran or flour.

verb

  1. To use a chisel.
  2. To work something with a chisel.
  3. To barge in on (something); to intrude on (something).
  4. To make small changes to (something), bit by bit, resulting in change over time.
  5. To beg or pressure somebody into giving up (something); to haggle excessively; to cheat; to obtain something from (someone) by cheating.

Etymology

From Middle English chisel, chesel, from Old Northern French chisel, cisel, from cisoir (with a change in suffix), from Late Latin cīsōrium (“cutting tool”), from Latin caedō (“cut”). Doublet of scissors.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.