Chevvying

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Persistently pestering or urging someone to hurry, act or get moving, often with constant nagging
2. Harassing a person again and again with reminders, prompts or demands until they take action
3. Badgering someone relentlessly in an effort to hurry them along or to get a task done

Etymology: Chevvying is the present participle of "chevy", a verb meaning to harass or pester someone, usually by repeated nagging or chasing. The verb is a variant of "chivy" (also spelled "chivvy"), and it has an older, more physical sense: to chase or hunt something about, to drive it hard. The earliest English record of the verb dates from the 1830s, and it was originally the name of an old hunting cry, "chivy" or "chevy", used to urge on the hounds and the chase. The word's origin is uncertain. It may come from an earlier cry or hunting term, and one theory links it to "Chevy Chase", the name of a border ballad about a hunt, though this connection is not firmly established. What is clear is that the sense moved steadily from driving game to driving people, so that a hunt became a harassment.

Synonyms: harass, nag, chivvy

Antonyms: placate