chicken out

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

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Verb

chicken out (third-person singular simple present chickens out, present participle chickening out, simple past and past participle chickened out)

1. (idiomatic) To shy away from a daring task; to decline, refuse, or avoid something due to fear or uncertainty.

   We almost convinced his dad to ride the roller coaster, but he chickened out when he saw how high it went.

   • 2022 June 29, K Shanmugam, “Hard Talk: K. Shanmugam: Will Singapore have to choose between the US and China?”, in BBC‎^[1]:

     I dismiss Reporters Without Borders. Completely nonsensical. We invited them in for a select committee hearing, and in the true heritage of free speech, they chickened out.

Synonyms

• bottle out
• wuss out
• wimp out
• bottle it (back out, avoid the challenge)

Translations

shy away from a daring task

• Finnish: jänistää (fi)
• French: se dégonfler (fr), lâcher (fr), laisser tomber (fr), lâcher l’affaire (fr)
• German: kneifen (de), Schiss kriegen
• Italian: nascondersi dietro un dito
• Persian: جا زدن (jâ zadan)
• Polish: tchórzyć (pl) impf, stchórzyć (pl) pf
• Portuguese: amarelar (pt), acovardar-se
• Russian: испуга́ться (ru) pf (ispugátʹsja), стру́сить (ru) pf (strúsitʹ), засса́ть (ru) pf (zassátʹ) (vulgar), забзде́ть (ru) pf (zabzdétʹ) (vulgar), усса́ться (ru) pf (ussátʹsja) (vulgar), обосса́ться (ru) pf (obossátʹsja) (vulgar), усра́ться (ru) pf (usrátʹsja) (vulgar), обосра́ться (ru) pf (obosrátʹsja) (vulgar)
• Spanish: acobardarse (es), (Mexico) ciscarse (es), rajarse (es), (River Plate region) achicarse (es)