what is the definiton "chaw" from the days when slavery was still legal in the US?

CHAW means "Chewing tobacco". Unexplained phonetic variant of chew; the noun meaning "that which is chewed" (esp. a quid of tobacco) first recorded 1709.
Updated on Thursday, February 02 2012 at 09:47AM EST
Collections: chewing tobaccoquidchewtobacco