To href="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=lose">lose specifically, to chew on something of which more was bitten off than one can. Probably related to gnashing of teeth. See href="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=bagbiter">bagbiter. A hand gesture commonly accompanies this. To perform it, hold the four fingers together and place the thumb against their tips. Now open and close your hand rapidly to suggest a biting action (much like what Pac-Man does in the classic video game, though this pantomime seems to predate that). The gesture alone means "chomp chomp" (see href="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=Verb Doubling">Verb Doubling). The hand may be pointed at the object of complaint, and for real emphasis you can use bothhands at once. Doing this to a person is equivalent to saying "You chomper!" If you point the gesture at yourself, it is a humble but humorous admission of some failure. You might do this if someone told you that a program you had written had failed in some surprising way and you felt dumb for not having anticipated it. (1996-06-01)
