chivvy

Meanings

1. To coerce or hurry along, as by persistent request.
2. To subject to harassment or verbal abuse.
3. To sneak up on or rapidly approach.
4. To pursue as in a hunt.

1. Something that encourages one to act; a goad, a spur.

Etymology

From chivy, chevy (“to chase; to race, scamper”), from chivy, chevy (“a chase, hunt, pursuit”), probably from the title of The Ballad of Chevy Chase, first published in The Complaynt of Scotland (1549); the ballad is about a hunt taking place on a chase (“large country estate where game may be hunted”) in the Cheviot Hills between Northumberland and the Scottish Borders, and is thought to allude to the Battle of Otterburn in 1388.