1. [n]  an edge tool with a flat steel blade with a cutting edge
2. [v]  carve with a chisel; "chisel the marble"
3. [v]  deprive somebody of something by deceit; "The con-man beat me out of $50"; "This salesman ripped us off!"; "we were cheated by their clever-sounding scheme"; "They chiseled me out of my money"
4. [v]  engage in deceitful behavior; practice trickery or fraud; "Who's chiseling on the side?"

1. \Chis"el\, n. [OF. chisel, F. ciseau, fr. LL. cisellus,
   prob. for caesellus, fr. L. caesus, p. p. of caedere to cut.
   Cf. {Scissors}.]
   A tool with a cutting edge on one end of a metal blade, used
   in dressing, shaping, or working in timber, stone, metal,
   etc.; -- usually driven by a mallet or hammer.
   {Cold chisel}. See under {Cold}, a.
   

2. \Chis"el\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Chiseled}, or {Chiselled}
   (?); p. pr. & vb. n. {Chiseling}, or {Chiselling}.] [Cf. F.
   ciseler.]
   1. To cut, pare, gouge, or engrave with a chisel; as, to
      chisel a block of marble into a statue.
   2. To cut close, as in a bargain; to cheat. [Slang]
   

An extension of C for VLSI design, implemented as a C preprocessor. It produces CIF as output.

["CHISEL - An Extension to the Programming language C for VLSI Layout", K. Karplus, PHD Thesis, Stanford U, 1982].