chicken wire

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noun

a light, wire netting having a large, hexagonal mesh, used especially as fencing.

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Origin of chicken wire

An Americanism dating back to 1915–20

Words nearby chicken wire

chickenshit, chicken snake, chicken switch, chicken tetrazzini, chicken turtle, chicken wire, chicken with its head cut off, chick flick, chick lit, chickpea, chickweed

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use chicken wire in a sentence

They focused on PAHs—compounds assembled from carbon atoms fused together into rings that slightly resemble chicken wire.
An asteroid didn’t kill the dinosaurs by itself. Earth helped.|Kate Baggaley|September 30, 2020|Popular-Science
And extortion makes a lot more sense before a story hits the news wire, not after.
Phylicia Rashad and the Cult of Cosby Truthers|Stereo Williams|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
As zealots poured in from Arkansas and Mississippi, a wire service reporter got punched in the ribs.
The Louisiana Racists Who Courted Steve Scalise|Jason Berry|January 3, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Wearing the right foot of a chicken was considered good luck.
The History of the Chicken: How This Humble Bird Saved Humanity|William O’Connor|December 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST

While the chicken today might be the least exotic bird one can think of, it was once a gift that wowed kings.
The History of the Chicken: How This Humble Bird Saved Humanity|William O’Connor|December 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The chicken, to this day, is valued for its medicinal properties.
The History of the Chicken: How This Humble Bird Saved Humanity|William O’Connor|December 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Squinty could look out, but the slats were as close together as those in a chicken coop, and the little pig could not get out.
Squinty the Comical Pig|Richard Barnum
That the weather being calm, he rowed round me several times, observed my windows and wire-lattices that defenced them.
Gulliver's Travels|Jonathan Swift
They require frequent cleaning with a long wire and a bit of tow, and in some large towns there are professional pipe-cleaners.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce|E. R. Billings.
Wire Nails, Staples, &c., are made at Nettlefold's by machinery much in advance of what can ba seen elsewhere.
Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham|Thomas T. Harman and Walter Showell
I need fourteen wire ropes, all pulling in different directions, to hold me steady.
Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II|Rudyard Kipling

British Dictionary definitions for chicken wire

chicken wire

noun

wire netting with a hexagonal mesh

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