chickenshit

[ chik-uhn-shit ]

noun
  1. boring or annoying details or unimportant tasks.

adjective
  1. obsessed with petty details.

  2. menial or petty.

  1. cowardly or fainthearted.

Origin of chickenshit

1
1945–50; Americanism

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

Other Idioms and Phrases with chickenshit

chickenshit

Contemptibly petty or insignificant. For example, He has spent his life making up chicken shit rules that nobody follows anyway. This expression gained currency during World War II, when it was often applied to the enforcement of petty and disagreeable military regulations. [Vulgar slang; c. 1930]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.