chicken head

n. in skiing and other snow-based sports, a small chunk of frozen snow; in climbing, a small, round protrusion on a rock face. Subjects: English, Environment, Sports & Recreation, Slang

Editorial Note: A common but unrelated general meaning of chicken head is “a loose or immoral woman, especially one who performs sexual favors in exchange for drugs, money, or gifts” but usage varies greatly and those who use the term disagree on its specific meanings. The Historical Dictionary of American Slang includes an entry that dates another meaning—"a dolt"—back to 1906.

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Citations: 1987 Los Angeles Times (July 15) “Mountain Talk” p. 7: Chickenhead or Knob—An outcropping of rock that is easy to grab, step or tie off on. 1992 [Bruce Hildenbrand] Usenet: rec.climbing (Feb. 21) “Bruce’s Primer to Yosemite Valley”: New Diversions (New Diversions Cliff)—steep chicken heads. 1992 [David Knorr] Usenet: rec.climbing (May 19) “Needles trip report (long)”: Dome Rock is a beautiful hunk of granite containing a bit of everything: steep friction, cracks, knobs, and chicken heads. 1995 Usenet: rec.skiing.alpine (Apr. 28) “Re: Skiing Slang Wanted”: At Jackson Hole watch for “scud missiles” ie tips of jagged rocks flush with the surface that tear up your bases!…Scud missles are also “chicken heads” and “lunar surface.” 1996 [The Deuce Brothers] Usenet: rec.skiing.alpine (Jan. 27) “Live from Sugarbush—1/26/96”: I could swear that I could make out some of my turns from the previous day preserved in ice. The snow that had fallen the night before was just enough to hide the frozen chicken heads from sight, but not hide them from your skis. 1998 Bill Kerig, Eric Deslauriers, Lito Tejada-Flores, Harald Harb Skiing (Feb. 1) “Ice advice: how to handle the hard cases” vol. 50, no. 6, p. 51: Hard ski surfaces come in many forms, from “boilerplate” or “bulletproof” after a January thaw/freeze (Vermont natives like to say the snow “toightened up” after the thaw) to “frozen chicken heads,” when spring slush refreezes overnight. 2000 Jerry Beilinson Popular Mechanics (Mar. 1) “Alpine Heroes” vol. 177, no. 3, p. 66: The mountain is empty, nearly. The shadows are lengthening, and the valley lies in darkness 2000 ft. below. The snow is hardening into icy chunks beneath our skis. “Frozen chicken heads,” Dave Monte calls them. 2001 Usenet: rec.climbing (July 3) “TR: Gumbies, Geezers and the Hard Truth”: While cleaning the nut Mutt[0] had placed where the climb goes back into the corner, I’m thinking “Man, I’m glad I didn’t lead that pitch, very airy and a nasty fall onto plate sized chicken heads."…We can’t let it trail down since it could easily get caught on plentiful knobs and chicken heads on the face. 2003 Barbara Lloyd New York Times (Feb. 27) “Finding Uniformity in the Lexicon of Snow” p. D5: Golf-ball sized chunks of frozen snow on a trail are often referred to as death cookies in the East; Westerners tend to call them chicken heads.

Posted 22 Dec 06 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Reader comments:

chicken head really means that hoe down the street that`s the best at givin` head !

by damian 26 Dec 06, 0654 GMT