chow down

British  

verb

1. informal to eat heartily

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chow down Idioms  

1. Eat, as in He's always ready to chow down at dinner time. Originally military slang, this term is now more widely used. The noun chow in the sense of food, originating from either Chinese or pidgin English in the 18th century, also appears in such terms as chow line, a line of people waiting for food, and chow time, mealtime. [Slang; mid-1900s]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

chow down

In Kashgar, middle-aged Chinese men in cowboy hats descend from tour buses to chow down on grilled lamb skewers and pilaf.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

Artificial intelligence may have already taken a bite out of software this year, but a profit warning from IBM indicates that it’s hardware’s turn to chow down.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026

Over in the canteen, Syrian and African musicians chow down with Posdnuos from De La Soul and sitar legend Anoushka Shankar.

From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2026

When the snake emerges, it should find enough mice to chow down on.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026

“We can’t hold these trucks up any longer, so you guys are going to have to chow down at your units,” he said.

From "Fallen Angels" by Walter Dean Myers

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