Champed

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To chew noisily or with a crunching sound
2. To bite down repeatedly in a vigorous manner
3. To demonstrate impatience or eagerness by quickly chewing or grinding the teeth

Etymology: The verb "champ" in the sense of chewing or grinding the teeth is a Middle English word, recorded as "champen" or "chammen," meaning "to bite" or "gnash the teeth." Its origin is uncertain, and it may have begun as an imitative sound, the noise of jaws working. Its past form, "champed," simply carries that same meaning backward in time: the action of having chewed or ground the teeth impatiently. The modern sense of impatience or eagerness grew from the physical act. A horse champing at its bit, chewing and tossing its head while waiting to run, gave the word its strongest image, and the eager, restless behavior of the animal became the sense the word carries today. Because "champ" is an inflected verb form in English, its root meaning is the key. The word is unrelated to "champion" in origin, even though the two are often confused; "champion" is a separate word, which the shortened "champ" also gets as a clipping in its other senses.

Synonyms: crunched, bitten, chewed, masticated, gobbled