chivvy

/ˈtʃɪvi/

Other forms: chivvied; chivvying

To chivvy is to repeatedly harass or annoy someone. Don't let your little sister chivvy the dog, or she's going to get nipped!

This verb is more commonly used in Britain than the U.S., both to mean "bother," and also "hurry along" or "pursue." So you might chivvy some chickens into their coop or chivvy an opposing player on a soccer field. It was originally chevy, a word etymologists believe derives from the 15th-century Ballad of Chevy Chase, which describes an infamous battle between Scotland and England in the Cheviot Hills.

Definitions of chivvy

1. verb

   annoy continually or chronically
   synonyms: beset, chevvy, chevy, chivy, harass, harry, hassle, molest, plague, provoke

   types:

   goad, needle

   goad or provoke, as by constant criticism

   bedevil, crucify, dun, frustrate, rag, torment

   treat cruelly

   haze

   harass by imposing humiliating or painful tasks, as in military institutions

   madden

   drive up the wall; get on someone's nerves

   hamstring

   make ineffective or powerless

   badger, beleaguer, bug, pester, tease

   annoy persistently

   oppress, persecute

   cause to suffer

   type of:

   annoy, bother, chafe, devil, get at, get to, gravel, irritate, nark, nettle, rag, rile, vex

   cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations