chivvy

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“
We had tramped, from dawn, through eight miles of 'chivvy-dusters,' and our camp was now among them.

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Definitions (7)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. transitive verb To vex or harass with petty attacks: political opponents who chivvied the senator.
  2. transitive verb To maneuver or secure gradually: "had spent two weeks chivvying this division toward combat readiness” (Tom Clancy).
  3. intransitive verb To scurry.
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Examples (32)

  • The purpose of this exercise is clearly to chivvy the House along into compliance with the received wisdom of the elites (and the moneyed). —  Sic Semper Tyrannis
  • It's better than the Italians 'reaction to our "quirky street style" - which is to cross the road to avoid us, then ask a passing street-cleaner to chivvy us into a bin. —  Top stories from Times Online
  • We had tramped, from dawn, through eight miles of 'chivvy-dusters,' and our camp was now among them. —  The Leicestershires beyond Baghdad
  • They might, indeed, follow for a time, but that was merely for the fun of a chivvy, and his growing power often led Warhorse to seek the chase for the sake of a little excitement, and to take hazards that others less gifted were most careful to avoid Jack, like all other wild animals, had a certain range or country which was home to him, and outside of this he rarely strayed. —  Animal Heroes
  • To work the give in a chivvy liberated behavior it is recommendable to administer finished online lenders. —  xml's Blinklist.com
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This word has been looked up 23 times.

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Etymologies (1)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Variant of chevy, a hunt, hunting cry, from Chevy Chase, title of a ballad about a border skirmish, from Cheviot Chase, a large unenclosed hunting tract in the Cheviot Hills.
 

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