chipmunk

English

A chipmunk.

Alternative forms

Etymology

1832; alteration (influenced by chipping squirrel) of earlier chitmunk, from older Ojibwe ačitamo˙nˀ (“squirrels”) (modern ajidamoo), literally ‘those who descend headlong’, from ačit- (“headfirst, face-down”) (compare modern ajijibizo (“he falls headfirst”), ajidagoojin (“he hangs upside down”)). The English verb developed due to the high-pitched voices of the American puppet and cartoon chipmunks in the group Alvin and the Chipmunks, who later starred in a popular children's TV show in the 1980s.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃɪp.mʌŋk/, /ˈt͡ʃɪt.mʌŋk/, [ˈt̠͡ʃɪʔmʌŋk]
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • Hyphenation: chip‧munk

Noun

chipmunk (plural chipmunks)

  1. Any of the subtribe Tamiina of small, striped rodents, mostly found in North America, with the exception of the Siberian chipmunk which is found primarily in Asia.

Hypernyms

Derived terms

Descendants

  • → Kashubian: szczipniôk (Canada, United States)

Translations

Verb

chipmunk (third-person singular simple present chipmunks, present participle chipmunking, simple past and past participle chipmunked)

  1. (transitive) To speed up (an audio recording, especially a song), to make the voices high-pitched.
    • 2005, Vibe, volume 13, number 10, page 232:
      The Dipset capo favors breezy, bass-heavy beats instead of chipmunked soul samples to celebrate the 'hood's favorite season.
  2. (transitive, intransitive) To fill (one's mouth or cheeks) with food.
    • 2006, Ryan Nerz, Eat This Book:
      Less than a minute to go and she's chewing almost viciously, her stuffed cheeks all chipmunked out like Dizzy Gillespie's in midsolo.
  3. (Should we delete(+) this sense?) (transitive, intransitive) To stuff (food) into one's mouth or cheeks, sometimes as part of competitive eating.
    • 2011, Robert Buettner, Orphan's Destiny:
      She chipmunked her breakfast into a porcelain cheek.
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