What does it mean when someone is playing chicken?

play chicken in American English

US. to engage in a test of courage in which, typically, two vehicles are driven directly toward one another in order to see which driver will swerve away first. Slang. to engage in mutual challenges or threats, hoping the opponent will withdraw before actual conflict or collision.

What does chicken mean in slang?

1a : scared. b : timid, cowardly. 2 slang. a : insistent on petty details of duty or discipline.

What does playing chicken with a train mean?

It does mean “to run a great risk“, Ekbatana. People who “play chicken” in cars race toward each other. If neither driver “chickens out”, then the cars will collide head on. The driver who turns aside first is the “chicken”. “To play chicken with a freight train” would be a very foolish thing to do.