Noun

(countable) A domestic fowl, Gallus gallus , especially when young

(uncountable) The meat from this bird eaten as food.

(countable, slang) A coward.

(countable, gay slang) A young, attractive, slim man, usually having little body hair. Compare chickenhawk

(countable, slang) A young or inexperienced person.

* 1887 , Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet , III:

"This case will make a stir, sir," he remarked. "It beats anything I have seen, and I am no chicken ."

* Jonathan Swift

Stella is no chicken .

A confrontational game in which the participants move toward each other at high speed (usually in automobiles); the player who turns first to avoid colliding into the other is the chicken (, the loser.)

Don't play chicken with a freight train; you're guaranteed to lose.

The game of dare.

Noun

(label) An act of deliberate killing of another being, especially a human.

*{{quote-book, year=1927, author= F. E. Penny

, chapter=4, title= Pulling the Strings , passage=The case was that of a murder . It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities. A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff.}}

* 1984 , Humphrey Carpenter, Mari Prichard, The Oxford companion to children's literature , page 275:

It may be guessed, indeed, that this was the original form of the story, the fairy being the addition of those who considered Jack's thefts from (and murder of) the giant to be scarcely justified without her.

* 2003 , Paul Ruditis, Star Trek Voyager: Companion (ISBN 0743417518), page 131:

Captain Sulu, who served under the legendary James T. Kirk for many years, disobeys Starfleet orders in order to try and help Kirk and another old shipmate, Dr. McCoy, who have been imprisoned for the murder of the Klingon chancellor.

* 2011 , Carlene Brennen, Hemingway's Cats (ISBN 1561644897), page 161:

Dr. Herrera also knew Hemingway had held Batista's army personally responsible for the brutal murders of his dogs, Blackie (Black Dog) and Machakos.

(label) The crime of deliberate killing of another human.

* {{quote-news, date=21 August 2012, author=Ed Pilkington, newspaper=The Guardian

, title= Death penalty on trial: should Reggie Clemons live or die? , passage=Reggie Clemons has one last chance to save his life. After 19 years on death row in Missouri for the murder of two young women, he has been granted a final opportunity to persuade a judge that he should be spared execution by lethal injection.}}

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Old soldiers? , passage=Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine.

The commission of an act which abets the commission of a crime the commission of which causes the death of a human.

Something terrible to endure.

(label) A group of crows;

*

* {{quote-book, 2001, (Daniel Handler), The Vile Village, isbn=0064408655, page=76

, passage=Without the murder of crows roosting in its branches, Nevermore Tree looked as bare as a skeleton.}}