Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. something insignificant, worthless.

1930		(con. 1915) ‘W.W. Windstaff’ ‘A Flier’s War’ in Longstreet Canvas Falcons (1970) 278: There were flying wings on his tunic and French and English chicken-shit of gold and silver and silver and bronze.
1955		M. Kantor Andersonville 119: No more chicken shit, but fine sawney and stews.
1973		C. Gaines Stay Hungry 154: I just mess with this chickenshit to keep my hand in.
1997		E. Little Another Day in Paradise 23: He’ll have made a score that makes your last one look like chickenshit.
2003		P. Cornwell Blow Fly (2004) 117: This has got nothing to do with those ladies disappearing. This is chicken shit. A cold case.

2. (also chickenstuff) a coward.

1947		C. Willingham End as a Man (1952) 100: You’re both acting like chicken-shits [...] What are you afraid of?
1957		A. Maund Big Boxcar 141: When her wind came back she blasted me. ‘Why didn't you chase him, you little chickenshit?’.
1964		H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 135: Harry noticed that he had gone and sneered and muttered, chickenshit. Afraid the boss might see him with me.
1975		J. Wambaugh Choirboys (1976) 141: You shot me in the back, you chickenshit!
1985		(con. 1969–70) D. Bodey F.N.G. (1988) 318: Bostick here, the chickenshit, he started crying.
1987		‘Joe Bob Briggs’ Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In 160: Bubba, you gotta understand, is basically a chickenstuff.
1994		T. Willocks Green River Rising 133: So we not chickenshits. So [...] some of us die on our feet ’stead of on our knees.
1996		P. Howard The Joy (2015) [ebook] ‘Chicken shit’’ Duffo shouts.
2001		S. King Dreamcatcher 152: What kind of chickenshit quits off the football team cause of a broken nose, anyhow?
2005		K. Huff A Steady Rain I ii: No way you’re ever getting a puppy now, chicken shit!
2006		F.X. Toole Pound for Pound 86: ‘He’s going to lose his job for taking off from the scene.’ [...] ‘The chickenshit.’.
2011		F. Bill ‘Hill Clan Cross’ in Crimes in Southern Indiana [ebook] ‘Ain’t you the whinest chickenshit I ever did hear’.
2021		S.A. Crosby Razorblade Tears 124: ‘So, you’re saying Isiah and Derek’s friends are a bunch of chickenshits’.

3. a contemptible, disgusting person.

1964		R. Abrahams Deep Down In The Jungle 130: I knowed right then that chickenshit was dead.
1973		L. Bangs in Psychotic Reactions (1988) 143: Plenty more stuff even more revelatory to sequestered suburbanites (i.e. chickenshits).
1986		L. Heinemann Paco’s Story (1987) 154: If those cornball chickenshits had hung around for more than a morning, they might have seen something.

4. a disgusting, unacceptable action or situation.

1945		in T. Shibutani Derelicts of Company K (1978) 154: They make us put our wet geta in the barracks bags. God, what a lot of chicken shit!
1962		(con. 1940s) G. Mandel Wax Boom 276: Mission accomplished, so wipe that chickenshit off, Lieutenant.
1977		B. Davidson Collura (1978) 108: I’m getting tired of the chicken shit.
1977		D. Powis Signs of Crime 177: Chicken shit Anything unworthy, paltry or worthless. Once an American expression, now not uncommon because of hippy influence.
1982		G.V. Higgins Patriot Game (1985) 75: Just a lot of pardon applications and other chickenshit.
1998		P. Cornwell Point of Origin (1999) 367: Petty, spiteful, chicken shit generated by an ignorant, little mind.
2002		J. Lerner You Got Nothing Coming 258: A Hershey’s Kiss [...] Good for encouraging some catharsis. Chickenshit for the soul.
2006		G. Iles Turning Angel 179: ‘Chickenshit,’ I mutter as he walks away.

5. (US milit., also chicken) meaningless, petty discipline.

1945		in T. Shibutani Derelicts of Company K (1978) 225: I try not to pass on any chicken shit to you, and I’ll back you to the limit as long as you play square.
1946		J.W. Bishop ‘Amer. Army Speech’ in AS XXI:4 Dec. 248: Chickenshit. This graphic description, used both as noun and adjective, signifies what is mean, petty and annoying, especially as applied to regulations. [...] If he puts the gripe in a letter to the B-Bag, or otherwise feels it advisable to watch his language, the word is contracted to chicken.
1967		(con. 1940s) M. Dibner Admiral (1968) 259: Don’t pull that GI chickenshit on me.
1977		J. Sayles Union Dues (1978) 42: Now this Budka is notorious, worst accident record in the mine and pictures himself as a real nutcracker. Always on your back for chickenshit, while the important stuff goes right past him.
1987		(con. 1967) E. Spencer Welcome to Vietnam (1989) 27: What a relief war is. All the chicken shit is over.