chicken feed

Thân thiện

A farmer pours chicken feed into a long wooden trough for his flock.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • A very small or insignificant amount of money: "chicken feed" is an informal term used to describe a sum of money that is considered trivial, paltry, or not worth much.
   • Dry mash for poultry: In its literal sense, "chicken feed" refers to commercially prepared dry food for chickens and other domestic fowl.

Usage

• The term is primarily used in informal, often conversational, contexts to dismiss an amount of money as being too small to be significant or worth considering.
• The literal meaning is used in agricultural or farming contexts.

Examples

• Noun (figurative, small amount of money):
  • To a billionaire, a thousand dollars is just chicken feed.
  • They offered me a job, but the salary was chicken feed compared to my current one.
• Noun (literal, poultry food):
  • I need to buy a new bag of chicken feed for the coop.

Advanced Usage

• The figurative use often implies a comparison, suggesting that what is "chicken feed" to one person or entity might be significant to another.
• It can be used dismissively in negotiations or discussions about payment.

Variants and Related Words

• Peanuts (n, informal): Another informal synonym for a very small amount of money.
  • He's working for peanuts at that startup.
• Pittance (n): A very small or inadequate amount of money paid to someone as an allowance or wage.
  • They survive on a pittance.

Synonyms

• Trifle: Something of little value or importance.
• Mere pittance: An extremely small allowance or amount of money.
• Small change: Coins of low value; figuratively, an insignificant amount.

Related Phrases

• Not worth a hill of beans: To be of very little value or importance.
  • His opinion on the matter isn't worth a hill of beans.
• Drop in the bucket: A very small amount compared to what is needed or expected.
  • My donation was just a drop in the bucket for such a large charity.

Notes

• The term's figurative meaning derives from the idea that food for chickens is cheap and plentiful.
• It is important to distinguish this term from the unrelated, dated slang term for the drug methamphetamine, which is now obsolete and not the primary meaning. The requested definition referencing "Methedrine" is a separate, specific slang usage not covered here as per the instruction to explain the single, isolated target phrase "chicken feed."

Học thuật

Noun

1. an amphetamine derivative (trade name Methedrine) used in the form of a crystalline hydrochloride; used as a stimulant to the nervous system and as an appetite suppressant
2. dry mash for poultry

Từ đồng nghĩa

• scratch