to scatter, pour, sprinkle something down (see Karttunen); Molina adds that this can involve wheat seeds or the like (see Molina)
Orthographic Variants:
chayaua
Alonso de Molina:
chayaua. nitla. (pret. onitlachayauh.) esparzir o derramar por el suelo trigo, o cosa semejante. Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, 1571, part 2, Nahuatl to Spanish, f. 19r. col. 1. Thanks to Joe Campbell for providing the transcription.
Frances Karttunen:
CHAYĀHU(A) vt to scatter, pour, sprinkle something down / esparcir o derramar por el suelo trigo o cosa semejante (M), lo tira, lo derrama, lo esparse, lo riega (T) See CHAYĀHU(I).
CHAYĀHUILIĀ applic. CHAYĀHU(A)
CHAYĀHUALŌ nonact. CHAYĀHU(A) Frances Karttunen, An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992), 46.