chisel

[ chiz-uhl ]
See synonyms for: chiselchiseledchiselled on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. a wedgelike tool with a cutting edge at the end of the blade, often made of steel, used for cutting or shaping wood, stone, etc.

  1. Chisel, Astronomy. the constellation Caelum.

verb (used with object),chis·eled, chis·el·ing or (especially British) chis·elled, chis·el·ling.
  1. to cut, shape, or fashion by or as if by carving with a chisel.

  2. to cheat or swindle (someone): He chiseled me out of fifty dollars.

  1. to get (something) by cheating or trickery: He chiseled fifty dollars out of me.

verb (used without object),chis·eled, chis·el·ing or (especially British) chis·elled, chis·el·ling.
  1. to work with a chisel.

  2. to trick; cheat.

Origin of chisel

1
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English, from Anglo-French, variant of Old French cisel, from unattested Vulgar Latin cīsellus, diminutive of unattested cīsus, for Latin caesus, past participle of caedere “to cut,” with -ī- generalized from prefixed derivatives; cf. excide

Other words from chisel

  • chis·el-like, chis·el·like, adjective

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

How to use chisel in a sentence

  • From Ruskin: "The sharpest, finest chiseling, and patientest fusing;" "distantest relationships;" "sorrowfulest spectacles."

    An English Grammar | W. M. Baskervill and J. W. Sewell
  • This chiseling out of streets in such abrupt fashion is puzzling to the person with notions of how tropical people behave.

    The Pacific Triangle | Sydney Greenbie
  • A red-breasted woodpecker was chiseling out a nursery in a tall sycamore at the border of a woodland.

    Our Bird Comrades | Leander S. (Leander Sylvester) Keyser

British Dictionary definitions for chisel

chisel

/ (ˈtʃɪzəl) /


noun
    • a hand tool for working wood, consisting of a flat steel blade with a cutting edge attached to a handle of wood, plastic, etc. It is either struck with a mallet or used by hand

    • a similar tool without a handle for working stone or metal

verb-els, -elling or -elled or US -els, -eling or -eled
  1. to carve (wood, stone, metal, etc) or form (an engraving, statue, etc) with or as with a chisel

  2. slang to cheat or obtain by cheating

Origin of chisel

1
C14: via Old French, from Vulgar Latin cīsellus (unattested), from Latin caesus cut, from caedere to cut

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012