chumble

English

Etymology

Probably of imitative origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃʌmb(ə)l/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Verb

chumble (third-person singular simple present chumbles, present participle chumbling, simple past and past participle chumbled)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To peck at or nibble.
   • 1941, Sarah Campion, Mo Burdekin, page 8:

     The baby, whimpering when Janey thrust the crust into his mouth, now whimpered no longer but chumbled at the dry bread, slobbered over it, wiped it down Janey's front, dropped it in the grass and at once forgot about it, sitting on her lap […]

   • 1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 475:

     "Can you play the violin?" asked Rosemary loftily, out of a chumbling refined mouth.

   • 1964, Anthony Burgess, Nothing Like The Sun:

     Little dogs (his spaniel’s eyes encountered many) leaped and fawned about her, their sharp neat teeth clogging in the soft candy they chumbled from her gloved hand.