chomp
To {lose}; specifically, to chew on something of
which more was bitten off than one can. Probably related to
gnashing of teeth.
See {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 {Verb Doubling}). The
hand may be pointed at the object of complaint, and for real
emphasis you can use both hands 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)