English

Alternative forms

• cowchip, cow-chip

Noun

cow chip ‎(plural cow chips)

1. A piece of dried cow dung, used especially as fuel in the Third World and by early North American settlers.
   • 1877, Philip Reese Uhler, "ART. XXXI - Report upon the insects collected by P. R. Uhler during the explorations of 1875," U. S. Department of the Interior, p. 778 (Google preview):

     Eleodes obsoleta: Common on the plains, beneath cow-chips and rubbish, everywhere from Denver to Colorado Springs.

   • 1995, Laban Samuel Records, Cherokee Outlet Cowboy, ISBN 9780806128726, p. 90 (Google preview):

     He unhitched and unharnessed the team, turned it loose with the horse herd, remuda, and helped the cook gather cow chips for fuel.

   • 2012, Mike Cox, Texas Panhandle Tales, ISBN 9781609496111, p. 121 (Google preview):

     When cattle replaced buffalo on the plains, cow chips in turn replaced buffalo chips as a ready source of British thermal units.

See also

• buffalo chip
• cow pat / cow patty
• cowpie