VDict mobile



jargon To lose; specifically, to chew on something of
which more was bitten off than one can. Probably related to
gnashing of teeth.
A hand gesture commonly accompanies this. To perform it, hold
the four fingers together and place the thumb against their
tips. Now open and close your hand rapidly to suggest a
biting action (much like what Pac-Man does in the classic
video game, though this pantomime seems to predate that). The
gesture alone means "chomp chomp" (see Verb Doubling). The
hand may be pointed at the object of complaint, and for real
emphasis you can use both hands at once. Doing this to a
person is equivalent to saying "You chomper!" If you point
the gesture at yourself, it is a humble but humorous admission
of some failure. You might do this if someone told you that a
program you had written had failed in some surprising way and
you felt dumb for not having anticipated it.
(1996-06-01)