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Glite Dictionary
to chickenfight

to chickenfight

9.1
To sit on another person's shoulders and try to knock the other player off
  • verb
  • /ˈtʃɪkənˌfaɪt/
  • Informal
translation icon : pelea de gallos
  • We used to chickenfight at pool parties, trying to knock each other over.

Examples

  • Every summer, the kids chickenfight in the lake for hours at a time.

  • Do you want to chickenfight with me?

  • Last weekend, my friends and I chickenfought until we were too tired to stand.

  • They decided to chickenfight at the beach.

  • At the carnival, the children love to chickenfight on their parents' shoulders.

  • During the family reunion, we all took turns to chickenfight and see who would fall off first.

  • My brother and I used to chickenfight in the backyard, laughing as we tried to stay balanced.

Synonyms

to chicken-fight
vsto chickenfight
  • Informal
1 8.8

To sit on another person's shoulders and try to knock the other person off

has identical meaning but is written without a hyphen

How Physical

brawl
60 4.6
to fight
∞ 1.0
to chickenfight
  • Informal
9.1
to roughhouse
  • Informal
1 7.4
to play
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

chickenfight infinitive
chickenfighting present participle
chickenfights third person singular
chickenfought past
chickenfought past participle

Morphology

chickenfight = chicken + fight (semi-transparent) = chicken + fight

The components 'chicken' and 'fight' are clear, but the specific meaning of a game played on shoulders is not directly derivable from the components.

Etymology

Chickenfight is made from the words chicken ('a farm bird') and fight. Imagine two kids sitting like little chickens on someone else's shoulders trying to knock each other off, so to chickenfight means to fight while sitting on someone else's shoulders.