Obs. Forms: 3 cheofle, chefle, cheuele, chavle, 4 chaule, 7 chavell. [f. chavel, JOWL, cheek.]
1. intr. To wag the jaws; to chatter, talk idly.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 70. Heo grint groot þe cheofleð. Ibid., 128. Gelstreð, ase þe uox deð … & chefleð of idel.
a. 1307. Pol. Songs (1839), 240. To chaule ne to chyde.
2. trans. To mump or mumble (food).
1610. Markham, Masterp., I. xii. 34. He doth, as it were, chauell or chaw a little hay.
1647. R. Stapylton, Juvenal, x. Disarm’d of teeth, this chavells with his gums.
1796. Marshall, E. Yorksh. Gloss. (E. D. S.), Chavvle, to chew imperfectly.
1855. Whitby Gloss., Chavvle, to chew imperfectly, to mumble like a toothless person.
Hence Chaveling vbl. sb., chattering, ‘jawing.’
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 100. Ved þine eien mid totunge, & tine tunge mid cheuelunge.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 284. Mid chavling and mid chatere. Ibid., 296.
