— verb (used with object), verb (usedwithout object), noun Dialect .
1530, unexplained phonetic variant of chew; the noun meaning "that which is chewed" (esp. a quid of tobacco) first recorded 1709.
"All the hair she had gathered at work would be gone by the next morning, and Ogechi had no choice but to strap the child to her back and allow it to chaw on her dwindling nape."
- Lesley Nneka Arimah, "Who Will Greet You At Home", 26 October 2015 The New Yorker (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/chaw)