chewing

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of chew.

   The cow stood chewing slowly in the shade by the fence.

   Chewing each bite carefully made the meal last much longer.

   Note

   Two Old English endings meet in this one spelling. The participle descends from *ċēowende, whose -ende ending later became -ing. The noun goes back to a separate -ung formation, ċēowung. As a participle it builds progressives (is chewing). It also follows chew into its informal figurative use: someone chewing over a problem is pondering it, not eating anything.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The act of grinding something between the teeth; mastication.

   Thorough chewing breaks food into smaller pieces before it reaches the stomach.

   Years of one-sided chewing had worn down his back teeth.

   Similarmastication

   Note

   The plural sets this noun apart from the verb form: it can count separate bouts of chewing or the damage they leave. Jennifer Bramseth's Bourbon Springs Box Set (2016) lists trapped animals' "excretions, clawings, and chewings." As a true noun it takes of rather than a direct object (the chewing of tough meat), and it accepts an adjective in front: thorough chewing.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   The use of loose-leaf tobacco for its juice, the leaves held and worked against the cheek.

   Chewing delivers nicotine through the cheek rather than the lungs.

   The dugout ban finally put an end to chewing during televised games.

   Note

   Here the cheek is the point of entry. Nicotine-bearing juice from loose-leaf tobacco is absorbed through the lining of the mouth rather than the lungs, which is why the word sits among drug terms rather than words about eating. Named as a habit, it is usually uncountable and often follows verbs of quitting or banning: quit chewing, a ban on chewing.

4. 4
   noununcountable

   The practice of chewing leaves of the khat plant to release their stimulant juice.

   In Yemen, afternoon chewing brings neighbors together around bundles of fresh khat.

   Chewing releases a mild stimulant from the khat leaves held in the cheek.

   Note

   In pharmacology the word names a route of use, not just a movement of the jaw. Leaves of Catha edulis are worked in the mouth so that their juice, carrying the stimulant cathinone, is absorbed. Once khat is in the conversation, the noun usually stands alone, as in afternoon chewing. It shares that bare form with the tobacco habit, so context has to make the plant clear.

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