chicken out of something Definition

chicken
noun

1. The domestic fowl, bred virtually worldwide for its meat and eggs.
2. The flesh of this animal used as food.
3. derog, slang
A cowardly person.
4. slang
A youthful person.
5. colloq
Any of various games which involves daring someone to perform a dangerous activity.

adj

1. derog, colloq
Cowardly.

Idiom: count one's chickens before they are hatched

To plan or act on the basis of some expectation which has not yet been fulfilled.

Etymology: Anglo Saxon cicen.

Phrasal Verb: chicken out of something

To avoid or withdraw from (an activity or commitment) from lack of nerve or confidence.