chipping

Pluralchippings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of chip.

   Frost was chipping the edges of the weathered statue.

   The sculptor spent hours chipping at the marble block.

   Note

   The -ing form carries every use of the verb, from chopping something into small pieces to striking a ball as a chip shot. It works with or without an object: a workman is chipping the paint, while paint that flakes by itself is simply chipping. In some dialects it also means working with a chisel. As a gerund it shades into the noun for the act, which goes back to Middle English chippyng.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A fragment that has broken off a larger object.

   A chipping of flint lay half-buried in the gravel.

   Loose chippings thrown up by passing cars dented the fenders.

   Similarfragment, flake, shard, splinter

3. 3
   noununcountable

   The act of making chips, such as by breaking something into fragments, cutting potatoes, or removing pieces from pottery.

   The chipping of mortar from the bricks filled the room with dust.

   Stone chipping was once a respected craft among early toolmakers.

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