Chapter IV: Part 4

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple [ed. 1846], ch viii., p. 206, s.v.

1844. Puck, p. 134. Now, Johnson, thou wilt surely rue! Didst ever
pull before? (Brown had been up to fish at Kew. And caught—of
crabs—a store.)

1849. John Smith (J. D. Lewis) Hark, the gun has gone thrice, and
now off in a trice, With the Johnians we’re soon on a level. When
Hicks, who’s no dab, with his oar cuts a crab, And our coxswain he
swears like the Devil.

1857. Hood, Pen and Pencil Pictures, p. 144. Awful muff! Can’t pull
two strokes without catching as many crabs; he’d upset the veriest
tub on the river.

1872. Daily News, 10 Sept. ‘London Rowing Club Regatta.’ The
excitement and fun engendered by the numerous scrimmages resulted
in ‘fouls’ and crabs of most portentous magnitude.

Catch a Tartar, verbal phr. (popular).—To unexpectedly meet with one’s superior; to fall into one’s own trap; having a design upon another, to be caught oneself. [Explanation may be found, perhaps, in the horror born of the atrocities of the Tartar hordes who devastated Eastern Europe in the reign of St. Louis of France. Cf., Tartar, a person of irritable temper.] An American variant is to catch on a snag (q.v.).

1682. Dryden, Prol. to King and Queen, in wks., p. 456 (Globe).
When men will needlessly their freedom barter for lawless power,
sometimes they catch a tarter.

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xxx. Who, looking at me with a
contemptuous sneer, exclaimed, Ah, ah! have you caught a tarter?

1778. Fanny Burney, Diary, 23 Aug. ‘Ah,’ he (Johnson) added, ‘they
will little think what a tarter you carry to them.’

1857. O. W. Holmes, Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, ch. v. When
the Danish pirates made descents upon the English coast, they
caught a few tartars occasionally, in the shape of Saxons.

c. 1880. Broadside Ballad, ‘Unhappy Because it Can’t Last.’ They
say two heads are better than one, so I took a wife and caught a
tartar, and found two of a trade could never agree, and proved the
proverb that marry in haste repent at leisure.

Catch-’em-Alive, or Alivo, subs. phr. (common).—1. A fly-paper. [In allusion to the sticky substance smeared over the paper which, attracting the flies, literally ‘catches them alive.’]

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. III., p. 38.
They used to ... call ’em Egyptian flypapers, but now they use
merely the word ‘flypapers,’ or ‘fly-destroyers,’ or
‘fly-catchers,’ or ‘catch ’em alive, oh’s.’

1857. Dickens, Dorrit, wks. I., ch. xvi., 122. And such coats of
varnish that every holy personage served for a fly trap, and became
what is now called in the vulgar tongue a catch-em-alive, O.

1890. Globe, 16 April, p. 1, col. 3. Typhoid microbes take as
kindly to sluggish waters as flies do to catch-em-alive-oh’s.

2. (common).—A tooth-comb; a ‘louse-trap.’

3. (general).—The female pudendum.

Catch-Fart, subs. (old).—A footman, or page boy. [A combination of catch, in its ordinary sense, + fart (q.v.). Fourbesque, bolognino and falcone (‘a falcon’).]

Catch it, verb (colloquial).—To get a scolding or castigation; to get into trouble; to ‘come in for it.’ For synonyms, see Tan and Wig.

1835. Marryat, Jacob Faithful, ch. xxxviii. We all thought Tom was
about to catch it.

1848. Mrs. Gaskell, M. Barton, xxxi. I shall catch it down stairs,
I know.

1872. Black, Adv. Phaeton, xvi., 218. He catches it if he does not
bring home a fair proportion to his wife.

Catch me! or Catch me at it! phr. (colloquial).—An intimation that the person speaking will not do such and such a thing. An analogous phrase is don’t you wish you may get it!

1780. Mrs. Cowley, The Belle’s Stratagem, Act iii., Sc. 2. First
Gent. May I be a bottle, and an empty bottle, if you catch me at
that! Why, I am going to the masquerade.

1830. Galt, Lawrie, T., V., iv. (1849), 207. Catch me again at such
costly daffin.

1841. R. B. Peake, Court and City, I., i. Satisfaction! Catch me at
that!

1846. Dickens, Dombey and Son, I., p. 112, col. 3. ‘You have a
committee to-day at three, you know.’ ‘And one at three,
three-quarters,’ added Mr. Dombey, ‘Catch you at forgetting
anything!’ exclaimed Carker.

Catch on, verb (colloquial).—To understand; to grasp in meaning; to apprehend; to attach or fix oneself to; to quickly seize an opportunity and turn it to advantage. [A literal translation, in fact, into the language of slang of the Latin apprehendere.] A French equivalent is piger, but for synonyms, see Twig.

1884. Lisbon (Dakota) Star, 27 June. Now is the time to catch on in
order to keep up with the procession. [m.]

1889. The Nation, 19 Dec., p. 499, col. 1.... The farmer knows only
the traffic of his market town and his county, and he is slow to
catch on to the new and progressive.

1890. Globe, Feb. 13, p. 1. col. 5. Well, assuming that the notion
were to catch on, and the example of this enterprising mother to be
generally imitated in the upper orbits of the social system, would
there be a balance of advantage to the nation?

Catch on a Snag, verbal phr. (American).—to catch a Tartar (q.v.); to meet with one’s superior.

1887. Stuart Cumberland, The Queen’s Highway. In rough Western
parlance a man who falls in with such a player (a man, who, bearing
a high reputation for all-round godliness, is a crack ‘poker’
player) catches on a snag, and it is said that everyone who visits
the North-West comes across, sooner or later, the snag on which he
is to catch.

Catch on the Hop, verbal phr. (popular).—Properly to catch or have on the hip, as Gratiano catches Shylock.—See Hop.

c. 1869. The Chickaleary Bloke, sung by Vance. For to get me on the
hop, or on my ‘tibby’ drop, You must wake up very early in the
morning.

Catch-Pole, subs. (old).—A warrant-officer; a bum-bailiff. A very old term formerly in respectable use, but employed contemptuously from the sixteenth century. [From catch, to arrest, or stop, + pole or poll, the head.] Fourbesque, foco or fuoco = fire. Cf., Bum-bailiff.

1377. Langl., P. Pl., bk. XVIII., 46. Crucifige, quod a cacchepolle
I warante hym a wicche. [m.]

c. 1510. Barclay, Mrr. Good Mann. (1570), G., iv. Be no towler,
catchpoll, nor customer.

1601. B. Johnson, Poetaster, III. Catchpole, loose the gentlemen,
or by my velvet arms, etc.

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. xcvii. The catchpole, after a
diligent search, had an opportunity of executing the writ upon the
defendant.

1859. Sala, Gaslight and Daylight, ch. xiii. You are brought there
by a catchpole, and kept there under lock and key until your
creditors are paid.

Catch the Wind of the Word, verbal phr. (Irish).—To quickly understand the meaning of what is said. For synonyms, see Twig.

Catchy, adj. (colloquial).—Vulgarly or cheaply attractive; of a quality to take the eye or ear; easily caught and remembered (as a tune). Wrongly used in quot. 1885.

1831. Fraser’s Mag., III., 679. A catchy, stage-like effect. [m.]

1885. S. O. Addy, in N. and Q., 6 S., xii., 143. This seemed to be
like one of those catchy questions which examiners in law and
history are said to ‘stump’ the candidates.

Caterpillar, subs. (old).—A soldier. For synonyms, see Mudcrusher.

Caterwaul, verb (colloquial).—Properly to make a noise like cats at rutting time; to woo, to ‘make love.’ The quotations show the process of transition from the old figurative usage of the word, to be ‘in heat,’ ‘to be lecherous,’ to the current sense. For synonyms, see Firkytoodle.

1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, in wks. V., 284. The friars and monks
caterwawld from the abbots and priors to the novices.

1700. Congreve, Way of the World, Act i., Sc. 9. An old aunt, who
loves catterwauling better than a conventicle.

1771. Smollet, Humphry Clinker, l. 64. I hope you have worked a
reformation among them [servant-maids], as I exhorted you in my
last, and set their hearts upon better things than they can find in
junketting and caterwauling with the fellows of the country.

1884. Hawley Smart, Post to Finish, ch. xvii. From what I hear, you
came to Riddleton fooling after my daughter. Now, I’ll have no
caterwauling of that sort.

Catever, subs. (common).—A queer, or singular affair; anything poor or bad. [From the Lingua Franca, and Italian cattivo, bad.] Variously spelled by the lower orders.—Hotten.

Catfish Death, subs. (American).—Suicide by drowning.

c. 1889. Chicago Press [quoted by Barrère].... driving his
sweetheart to lunacy and a catfish death, by his dime-museum
freaks.

Catgut-Scraper, subs. (common).—A fiddler. [From catgut, the material of which fiddle strings are made, + scraper, one that rubs or scrapes.] Sometimes simply scraper or catgut; the latter of which is also used to signify the music produced. Also Rosin-the-bow and Teaser of the Catgut.

1633. Massinger, Guardian, IV., ii. Wire-string and catgut, men and
strong-breathed heautbois. [m.]

1785. Burns, Jolly Beggars. Her charms had struck a sturdy caird,
As weel’s a poor gut-scraper.

1796. Wolcot (‘P. Pindar’), Tristia, wks. (1812) V., 267. Behold!
the Catgut-scraper with his croud Commands at will the house of
hospitality.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 21. Or
they will call to the orchestra, saying, ‘Now then you
catgut-scraper! Let’s have a ha’purth of liveliness.’

Cat Harping Fashion, adv. phr. (nautical).—See quot.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Drinking cross ways, and not as
usual over the left thumb.

Cat Heads, subs. (old).—The paps. For synonyms, see Dairy.

Cathedral, subs. (Winchester College).—A high hat. [So called because only worn when going to the Cathedral.] For synonyms, see Golgotha.

Adj. (old)—Old-fashioned; antique.

1690. B. E., Dictionary Canting Crew. Cathedral: old-fashioned, out
of Date, Ancient.

1755. Johnson. Cathedral: in low phrase, antique, venerable, old.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Cathedral:
old-fashioned, an old cathedral bedstead, chair, etc.

Catharine Puritans, subs. phr. (University).—Members of St. Catharine’s Hall, at Cambridge. [Puritan from the pun on the words Catharine and Καθαίρειν = to purify.] They were also called Doves (q.v.).

Catherine Hayes, subs. (Australian).—See quot. [The derivation may presumedly be traced to the immense popularity of the Irish singer at the antipodes.]

1859. Frank Fowler, Southern Light and Shadows, p. 53. [A liquor
consisting of] claret, sugar, and nutmeg.

Cat’s, subs. (University).—A short name for St. Catharine’s Hall.

Cat’s Men, subs. (University).—Members of St. Catharine’s Hall.

Catherine Wheel.—See Cartwheel.

Cat-Lap, subs. (common).—Thin potations of any sort, especially tea. Such a beverage being so feeble as to be only fit for women. For synonyms, see Scandal broth.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Cat-lap: tea, called also scandal
broth.

1824. Scott, Redgauntlet, ch. xiii. We have tea and coffee aboard
... You are at the age to like such catlap.

1864. M. E. Braddon, Aurora Floyd, ch. xvii. ‘I’ve mashed the tea
for ’ee,’ said the ‘softy’; ‘I thought you’d like a coop.’ The
trainer shrugged his shoulders. ‘I can’t say I’m particular
attached to the cat-lap,’ he said, laughing.

Cat-Market, subs. (common).—A number of people all talking at once. ‘You make a row like a cat-market’—a general ‘caterwauling.’

Cat-Match, subs. (old).—See quot.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Cat Match: when a rook or cully is
engaged amongst bad bowlers.

Catoller or Catolla, subs. (old).—A noisy, prating fellow.—See quot.

1832. Pierce Egan, Book of Sports, p. 70. [Catolla is given as a
foolish, betting man.]

Cat-o’-Nine-Tails or Cat, subs. (common).—A nine-lashed scourge now used for the punishment of criminals, but until 1881 the authorised means of punishment in the British army and navy. [From cat, a beast with claws, + o’ + nine tails, the nine knotted lashes.] History is against the view of some military authorities that the cat-o’-nine-tails was a Batavian importation of William III., and that the word ‘cat’ is derived from the Sclavonic kat, an executioner, or from katowae, to lash or torture. Another theory is that it was introduced at the time of the Armada (1588), when vast numbers of these ‘straunge whips’ were found in the captured ships of the Spaniards. A ballad of the period declares of the Spaniards that—

They made such whippes wherewith no man Would seeme to strike a
dogge; So strengthened eke with brasen tagges And filde so roughe
and thinne, That they would force at every lash The bloud abroad to
spinne.

This view is not inconsistent with the quotations, the first of which antedates the earliest given in the N.E.D. by thirty years.] In prison parlance the cat-o’-nine-tails is known as number one or the nine-tailed bruiser (q.v.), the birch as number two (q.v.).

1665. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. iii., p. 28 (1874). A Cat
of Nine-tails (as he called it) being so many small cords.

1702. Vanbrugh, False Friend, prologue. You dread reformers of an
impious age, You awful cat-a-nine-tails to the stage.

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. v. ‘I’ll bring him to the gangway,
and anoint him with a cat-a-nine-tails.’

1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., pt. III., bk. VII., ch. iii. Rash coalised
kings, such a fire have ye kindled; yourselves fireless, your
fighters animated only by drill-sergeants, mess-room moralities,
and the drummer’s cat.

Cat-Party; also Bitch-Party, subs. (common).—A party consisting entirely of women. [From cat, a woman, + party.] Cf., Stag-party, and see Hen-Party for synonyms.

Cats, subs. (commercial).—Atlantic Seconds were formerly so-called for telegraphic purposes.

Cats and Dogs. To rain cats and dogs, sometimes extended to and pitchforks and shovels, phr. (popular).—To rain heavily. [The French catadoupe, a waterfall, has been suggested as the origin. Another etymon has been found in the Greek κατὰ δόξαν in reference to the downpour being out of the common. Possibly Swift, who seems to have been the first to have used the expression, may have evolved it out of his own description of a city shower (1710).]

Now from all parts the swelling kennels flow, And bear their
trophies with them as they go.... Drown’d puppies, stinking sprats,
all drench’d in mud, Dead cats, and turnip-tops, come tumbling down
the flood.]

1738. Swift, Pol. Convers., dial. 2. I know Sir John will go,
though he was sure it would rain cats and dogs.

1819 (Feb. 25). Shelley to Peacock, in Letters, etc. (Camelot), p.
264. After two months of cloudless serenity, it began raining cats
and dogs.

1837. Barham, I. L. (Blasphemer’s Warning). But it rains cats and
dogs and you’re fairly wet through Ere you know where to turn, what
to say, or to do.

Cat’s Foot. To live under the cat’s foot, phr. (old).—To be under petticoat government; hen-pecked. Cf., Apron-string.—See Cat’s-paw.

Cat’s Head, subs. (Winchester College).—The end of a shoulder of mutton; further explained by quotation.

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 84. His meal
[dinner] took place at six o’clock p.m. in College (in Commoners’
it was at one); it was ample in quantity, and excellent in quality.
That of the Præfects was nicely served in joints, that of the
Inferiors was divided into portions, (Dispars; there were, if I
remember rightly, six of these to a shoulder, and eight to a leg of
mutton, the other joints being divided in like proportion. All
these ‘Dispars’ had different names; the thick slice out of the
centre was called ‘a Middle Cut,’ that out of the shoulder a
‘Fleshy,’ the ribs ‘Racks,’ the loin ‘Long Dispars’; these were the
best, the more indifferent were the end of the shoulder, or Cat’s
head, the breast, or ‘Fat Flab,’ etc., etc.)

Catskin-Earls, subs. (parliamentary).—The three senior earls in the House of Lords, viz., the Earls of Shrewsbury, Derby, and Huntingdon, the only three earldoms before the seventeenth century now existing, save those that (like Arundel, Rutland, etc.), are merged in higher titles, and the anomalous earldom of Devon (1553), resuscitated in 1831. [A correspondent of Notes and Queries (7 S. ix., p. 314) suggests that the reason of the application may be that in the seventeenth or late in the sixteenth century an order was issued for the use of ermine instead of the skin of cats—(but were such skins then used?)—for the robes of a peer. If so, however, it is curious that there are not ‘catskin dukes’ and ‘catskin barons’ as well. There is yet another theory: an earl’s robes consist (now) of but three rows of ermine; but in some early representations they are shown with four, the same as (now) a duke; and it has been suggested that these four rows (quatre-skins) may have given the name of catskin.]

1861–75. Dean Hook, Life of Cardinal Pole, vide note, p. 264. The
Earl of Huntingdon is one of the three Catskin Earls of the present
day.

Cat’s-Meat, subs. (common).—The lungs. [The ‘lights’ or lungs of animals are usually sold to feed cats.]

Catso, subs. and intj. (old).—The penis. Murray says: ‘Also catzo.’ [a. It. cazzo = membrum virile. Also an exclamation, Cf., the English ejaculation, Balls! Florio says: ‘also as cazzica, interjection, “What! God’s me! God forbid! tush!”’] Frequent in seventeenth century in the Italian senses; also = rogue, scamp, cullion. Cf., Fr. cul, couillé and couillon as terms of contempt; also see the later Gadso.

Cat’s-Paw or Cat’s-Foot, subs. (common).—A dupe or tool. [A reference to the fable (Bertrand et Raton) of a monkey using the paw of a cat, dog, or fox, to pull roasted chestnuts off the fire, current in the sixteenth century, but varying considerably in details. The earliest printed version occurs in John Sambucus’ Emblemata (Plantin, Antwerp, 1564), where the sufferer is a dog, and not a cat. There is, however, a story of the same kind told (Maiol. Coll. vii., scil Simon Maiolus, Astensis, Episcopus Vulturariensis, Dies Caniculares, h.e. Colloquia XXIII., Physica, Collog. vii., p. 249, Ursellis, 1600) of Pope Julius II., 1503–13 [see N. and Q., 6 S., viii., 35.]]

[1657. M. Hawke. Killing is murder. These he useth as the Monkey
did the cat’s paw to scrape the nuts out of the fire.]

1782. Geo. Parker, Humorous Sketches, p. 140. They lug in Spain, to
their assistance, a cat’s-paw made.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. lvi. Sir Robert, who had rather
begun to suspect that his plebeian neighbour had made a cat’s-paw
of him, inclined his head stiffly.

1878. M. E. Braddon, Cloven Foot, ch. xli. He felt angry with
himself for having been in some wise a cat’s-paw to serve the young
man’s malice.

Cat-Sticks, subs. (old).—Thin legs. [In comparison to the stick used by boys in the game of tip-cat.] For synonyms see Drumsticks.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

Cat’s-Water, subs. (common).—Gin. [From cat, a woman + water, a white liquid.] Cf., Bitches’ wine = champagne. For synonyms, see Drinks.

Cattie, adj. and adv. (printers’).—An imperfect or ‘smutty’ look on a printed sheet, caused by an oily or unclean roller.

Catting, verbal subs. (common).—1. Vomiting.—See Cat, verb.

2. (venery).—Running after loose women; molrowing (q.v.) for synonyms.

1725. New Canting Dictionary. Catting: whoring.

Cattle, subs. (common).—A term of contempt applied to human beings. Cf., Queer cattle, Kittle cattle. The generic names of the lower creation are pretty generally used in such transferred senses; e.g., Queer fish, Downy bird, Pigeon, Rook, Sad dog, etc. In England mostly employed disparagingly, but in the U.S.A. bug—here the name of one of the most offensive of vermin, but there the common term for all varieties of beetles—is used in a good sense; e.g., Big bug.

1579. Gosson, School of Abuse, p. 27 (Arber’s ed.). We have
infinite Poets, and Pipers, and suche peeuishe cattel among vs in
Englande.

1600. Shakspeare, As You Like It, Act iii., Sc. 2, 435. Boyes and
women are ... cattle of this colour.

188(?) G. R. Sims, Dagonet Ballads (‘Moll Jarvis’). Queer cattle is women to deal with? Lord bless ye, yer honour, they are!

[Cattle is often used of horses. See Harrison Ainsworth’s Rookwood: Have you any horses? Our Cattle are all blown. Also Goldsmith’s ‘She Stoops to Conquer.’]

Cattle-Bug, subs. (American).—See Bug, subs., sense 4.

Caudge-Pawed, adj. (old).—Left-handed.—Grose.

Caught on the Fly, phr. (American).—‘Caught in the act.’ An equivalent of ‘caught on the hop’ or ‘hip.’—See Hop.

Cauliflower, subs. (old).—1. A clerical wig supposed to resemble a cauliflower; modish in the time of Queen Anne.

2. (old).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

3. (popular).—The foaming head of a tankard of beer. In France, a glass of beer without any head is termed un bock sans linge or sans faux-col.

1882. Daily Telegraph, Oct. 10, p. 5, col. 4. This gave the porter
a fine frothy or cauliflower head. [m.]

4. (military).—In plural.—The Forty-seventh Regiment of Foot, so called from its white facings. It is also known as The Lancashire Lads from its county title.

Caulk, subs. and verb (nautical).—1. Sleep; to sleep. In substantive form it sometimes appears as caulking. To caulk formerly meant ‘to pick out a soft plank,’ i.e., to lie down on deck; to sleep with one’s clothes on. [Cf., Bundling.]

1836. Marryat, Midshipman Easy, ch. xix. But it’s no go with old
Smallsole, if I want a bit of caulk.

1851. Chambers’ Papers, No. 52, p. 30. Sleeping upon deck is
called, I know not why, calking.

2. Verb.—To cease; to shut up; i.e., to stop one’s talk or leave off talking. [This usage is obviously derived from the legitimate meaning of the word, to stop up crevices and seams.] For synonyms, see Stow it.

3. (common).—To copulate; to do the ‘act of kind.’ For synonyms, see Ride.

Caulker, subs. (common).—1. A dram; a stiff glass of grog—generally applied to a finishing bumper. When this happens to be sherry and follows the drinking of red wines it is called a whitewash (q.v.). [There are three suggested derivations: (1) that it is a punning reference to caulking, that which serves to keep out the wet; (2) because such a draught takes a deal of swallowing; and (3) that it is a corruption of corker (q.v.), a regular stopper.] For synonyms, see Go.

1808. J. Mayne, Siller Gun, 89 (Jam.). The magistrates wi’ loyal
din, Tak off their cau’kers. [m.]

1836. M. Scott, Cruise of the Midge, ch. vi. We ... finished off
with a caulker of good cognac.

1849. C. Kingsley, Alton Locke, ch. xxi. ‘Take a caulker? Summat
heavy, then?’

1871. A. Forbes, My Experiences of the War between France and
Germany, II., p. 201. The Mobile officer joins us heartily in a
caulker, and does not need to be pressed to take a little supper.

1884. W. C. Russell, Jack’s Courtship, ch. viii. The caulker of rum
served out under the break of the poop by the light of a bull’s-eye
lamp.

2. (popular).—A lie; anything surprising or incredible. For synonyms, see Whopper.

1884. W. C. Russell, Jack’s Courtship, ch. xxxi. I also took care
that she should never afterwards be able to charge me with having
told her a real caulker.

Caution, subs. (popular).—A colloquialism used both of men and things. Anything out of the common, or that conveys a warning; something wonderful or staggering; something to be avoided. Anything that causes surprise, wonder, fear, or indeed any uncommon emotion, is a caution to this, that, or the other. At Oxford in 1865 it was employed to designate a ‘guy’ or ‘cure.’

1835. C. F. Hoffman, Winter in the West, p. 234. The way the icy
blast would come down the bleak shore was a caution.

1853. Wh. Melville, Digby Grand, ch. ii. ‘The way he cleaned out a
southerner, a fine young Carolinian, who made a series of matches
with him, was, as the Squire himself would have said, a caution.’

1861. Whyte Melville, Good for Nothing, ch. i. Such a clench of the
slender hand and stamp of the slender foot as constitute what our
American friends term a caution.

Cautionary, adj. (American).—Pertaining to that which is a caution (q.v.).

1843–4. Haliburton, Sam Slick in England. Well, the way the cow cut
dirt was cautionary; she cleared stumps, ditches, windfalls, and
everything.

Cavaulting or Cavolting, verbal subs. (old).—Sexual intercourse. [From the Lingua Franca cavolta, the equivalent of horsing or riding, both of which are frequently used in the same sense. Italian cavaliero = a rake or debauchee.] Cf., Cavort. For synonyms, see Greens.

Cavaulting School, subs. (old).—A house of ill-fame.—See Cavaulting, and for synonyms, see Nanny-shop.

Cave or Cave in, verb (American).—To give way when opposition can no longer be maintained; to break down; to ‘turn up.’ [Derived from the practice of navvies in digging earthworks, when the lower part is undermined until it can no longer sustain the overhanging mass. Murray says all the earliest instances of cave in, in print, are from America, and its literary use appears to have arisen there; but, as the word is given as East Anglian by Forby [1830], and is widely used in Eng. dialects, it is generally conjectured to have reached the U.S. from East Anglia.] The French has barrer; the Spanish acomodarse; and the Fourbesque battere.

English Synonyms. To knuckle under; knock under; give in; sing small; turn it up; chuck it up; jack up; climb down (q.v.); throw up the sponge; chuck it; go down; go out; cut it; cut the rope (pugilistic), etc.

1837–40. Haliburton, Sam Slick, Hum. Nat., 55 (Bardett). He was a
plucky fellow, and warn’t a goin’ to cave in that way.

1862. Brown (‘Artemus Ward’), His Book. I kin cave in enny man’s
head that, etc.

1869. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Innocents at Home. In the
meantime the tropical sun was beating down and threatening to cave
the top of my head in.

1883. Hawley Smart, Hard Lines, ch. xxii. ‘The Russians will cave
when they find we are in earnest.’

Cave! intj. (Eton College).—‘Beware!’ A byword among boys out of bounds when a master is in sight. [From the Latin. The modern, ‘beware of the dog’ was rendered cave canem by the Romans.]

Caviare, subs. (literary).—The obnoxious matter ‘blacked out’ by the Russian Press Censor. Every foreign periodical entering Russia is examined for objectionable references or ‘irreligious’ matter, the removal whereof is accomplished in two ways. If the articles or items are bulky, they are torn or cut out bodily. If they are brief, they are ‘blacked out’ by means of a rectangular stamp about as wide as an ordinary newspaper column, and ‘cross-hatched’ in such a way that, when inked and dabbed upon the paper, it makes a close network of white lines and black diamonds. The peculiar mottled or grained look of a page thus treated has suggested the attributive caviare: a memory of the look of the black salted caviare spread upon a slice of bread and butter. A verb has been formed from the noun, and every Russian now understands that ‘to caviare’ = to ‘black out.’ Of course as long as the Russian Government permits the entry of letters without censorial examination, any citizen of St. Petersburg or Moscow can write to Berlin, Paris, or London, and ask to have cut out and forwarded in a sealed envelope either a particular article that has been caviared, or all articles relating to Russia that may appear in any specified newspaper or magazine.

1890. St. James’s Gaz., 25 April, p. 7, col. 1. Every one of Mr.
Kennan’s articles in the Century has been caviared.

Cavort, verb (American).—To prance; to frisk; to run or ride in a heedless or purposeless manner. [From the Lingua Franca cavolta = prancing on horseback. Some, however, derive it from ‘curvetting’ = capering for show; there are also, as possible sources, the Spanish cavar, the pawing of a spirited horse; and the French courbetter.]—See Cavaulting.

1848. Major Jones’s Courtship, 41 (Bartlett). A whole gang ... came
ridin’ up, and reinin’ in, and prancin’, and cavortin’.

1883. Bret Harte, In the Carquinez Woods, ch. i. ‘If we had’nt been
cavorting round this yer spot for the last half-hour I’d swear
there was a shanty not a hundred yards away,’ said the sheriff.

1889. Puck’s Library, April, p. 12. Being an educated man, I feel
ten thousand woes Cavorting for the populace In illustrated
clothes.

Cawbawn.—See Cobbon.

Caw Handed, or Caw Pawed.—Awkward; not dexterous, ready or nimble.—Grose [1785].

Caxton, subs. (theatrical).—A wig. [A corruption of caxon, a kind of wig.] In Grose’s time a caxon signified an old weather-beaten wig. Cf., Cauliflower.

Cayuse, subs. (American).—A nickname given by Mormon girls to young ‘Latter Day Saints’: the ‘Yahoos’ of the Gentiles. [The cayuse is properly the common Indian pony. In explanation, it must be noted that there exists among Americans a passionate love of horses. A near and dear friend, an old companion, or men and women whose traits of character command respect and homage, are familiarly ‘horses.’ A distinguished Kentuckian carried away by enthusiasm for Miss Kemble’s acting, started to his feet, and with tremendous energy roared out, ‘By heaven she’s a “horse.”’] See Old Hog.

Caz, subs. (thieves’).—Cheese.—[See Cassan.]

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dictionary. Caz: cheese; ‘As good as caz,’
is a phrase signifying that any projected fraud or robbery may be
easily and certainly accomplished.

Caze, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum.

Cedar, subs. (Eton College).—1. A pair-oared boat inrigged, without canvas, and very ‘crank.’ [From the material.]

2. (prison).—A pencil. [This, like the foregoing, is derived from the wood of which both are made.]

Celestial Poultry, subs. (popular).—Angels. [An allusion to the mythological wings of ‘men out of the body.’]

Celestials, subs. (military).—The Ninety-seventh Regiment of Foot. [So nicknamed from its facings of sky blue.]

1856. Notes and Queries, 2 S., ii., p. 215. The 97th too is not
mentioned by your correspondents as far as I have seen, the
celestials.

1871. Chambers’ Journal, Dec. 23, p. 801. ‘Celestials’—the facings
of the ... corps being sky blue.

2. sing. (common).—A ‘turn-up’ or ‘pug’ nose. For synonyms, see Conk.

3. (colloquial).—The Chinese. The Chinese Empire is spoken of as the Celestial Empire.

Cellier, subs. (old).—An out-and-out, unmitigated lie. [A word of great interest, illustrating the temporary use for certain purposes of the name of a certain person, as in the cases of Burke, Boycott, Bishop, and Salisbury (q.v.). The Meal-tub Plot in 1680 was the concoction of Thomas Dangerfield and Elizabeth Cellier, a Roman Catholic midwife. Forged documents which Dangerfield hid in Colonel Mansel’s lodgings were upon his deposition found there by Government officers; but the fraud was soon discovered, and Dangerfield was committed to Newgate. On his trial he endeavoured to throw the entire blame on Mrs. Cellier, and asserted that the original papers were all to be found in her house hidden in a meal tub. This turned out to be true, and Mrs. Cellier was committed to prison. On her trial she managed to prove that Dangerfield was wholly unworthy of credit, and her marvellous impudence and vigorous mendacity led to her own acquittal, and made her name for the time the equivalent of ‘an out-and-out lie.’ After her trial she thanked the jurors for giving her a good deliverance, and offered to ‘serve their ladies with the same fidelity in their deliveries.’] For synonyms, see Whopper.

1682. Popes Harbinger, p. 79. That’s a Celier, Sir, a modern and
most proper phrase to signifie any Egregious Lye.

Cellar-Flap, subs. (common).—A step or dance performed within the compass of (say) a Cellar-Flap. The object of the Whitechapel artist in the dance is to achieve as many changes of step as possible without shifting his ground: his action being restricted to the feet and legs. An old equivalent is To Cut Capers on a Trencher; also Double-Shuffle (q.v.).

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 219. Others again
would indulge in a break-down, or cellar-flap dance, dreadfully to
the discomfort of the men in the cells below.

Cent. Not worth a cent, phr.—See Care and Fig.

Cent Per Cent, subs. (common).—A usurer. [Literally one who charges an exorbitant rate of interest, here symbolized as a hundred for every hundred. Quoted by Grose (1785).] For synonyms, see Sixty per Cent.

Centre-of-Bliss, subs. (common).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Centurion, subs. (cricket).—A batsman who scores a hundred runs. [From centurion, the commander of a ‘century,’ in the Roman Army.]

1886. Graphic, 31 July, p. 107, col. 2. Some other centurions have
been Chatterton (108) for M.C.C., Shuter (103, not out) for Trent.

Century, subs. (turf).—A hundred pounds; or at cricket, etc., a score of a hundred. Originally a division of the Roman Army numbering 100 men. In English it was and is in common use to signify a group of a hundred. Shakspeare, in Cymbeline, iv., 2, 391 [1611], writes a ‘century’ of prayers. See also A. C. Swinburne, A Century of Rondels and W. E. Henley, A Century of Artists (1889). Cf., Monkey, Pony, etc.

1864. Derby Day, p. 131. ‘I’m open to a bet. I’ll lay you an even
century about Nimrod.’

1869. Daily News, July 29. ‘Police Court Report.’ After this he
said he searched the breeches pockets that were lying by the side
of the bed, and took half a century worth of property from them.

1883. Echo, Nov. 1, p. 4, col. 2. Golding ... purchased Passaic
from F. Archer for a century.

1883. Graphic, August 11, p. 138, col. 2. His batting this year has
been of the highest order, as witnesses among his many good
performances that against the Players, when he marked his century.

Cert, subs. (sporting).—A certainty, of which it is an abbreviation. With special reference in racing circles to events looked upon as absolutely sure. Variants are a dead, or moral, certainty; A dead ’un; and a moral.

1859. Letter from Edward S. Taylor to John Camden Hotten, 22 Dec.
This edition will sell to a dead certainty.

1889. Man of the World, June 29. ‘Love-in-Idleness is bound to take
the Rous Memorial, and I hear Pioneer is a cert. for the St.
James’s.’

Certainties, subs. (printers’).—Infants of the male sex.—See Uncertainties.

Chafe, verb (old).—To thrash soundly. [Chafe = ‘to warm,’ ‘to rub with the hand.’ Cf., Anoint.] For synonyms, see Tan.

1673. R. Head, Canting Acad., p. 36.
1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Chafed: well beaten.

Chafer, verb (common).—To copulate. [Probably a corruption of chauver.] For synonyms, see Ride.

Chaff, subs. (colloquial).—1. Ironical or sarcastic banter; fooling; humbug; ridicule. [A word of uncertain derivation, which, except in two instances, both doubtful, does not appear in English literature, in either its substantive or its verbal form, before the beginning of the present century. Of the two the substantive seems to be the earlier. If this be correct, Murray thinks it may have arisen from a figurative employment of the orthodox word, in the sense of ‘refuse,’ ‘worthless matter,’ etc., connected with which is the proverb ‘an old bird is not caught with chaff.’ On the other hand there is an Arabic word Jaf or chaf, ‘dry, withered’ (like the Greek καρφος), used metaphorically and vulgarly in a sense similar to ‘humbug.’ To chaff a man is vulgo, to humbug him; for humbug, like chaff, is what may be scattered before the wind—what is light, trivial, or unfounded—an act of folly or knavery.—See, however, verb, sense 1.]

[Murray in dealing with this word leads off his illustrative
quotations with one (see quot. 1648) which he thinks may be
uncertainly placed, as it may mean ‘scolding.’ There is, however,
another instance, which, though also uncertain, may be a link in
the chain of evidence. In this case chaffing may bear its modern
slang signification, though as has been said, it is open to another
reading.]

For synonyms, see Gammon, sense 1.

164(?). The Downfall of Charing-Cross. Percy Ballads, II., p. 327
[ed. 1765]. Undone, undone, the Lawyers are, They wander about the
towne, Nor find the way to Westminster, Now Charing-Cross is downe:
At the end of the Strand they make a stand, Swearing they are at a
loss, And chaffing say that’s not the way, They must go by
Charing-Cross.

1648. Jenkyn, Blind Guide, iv., 76. You pretend to nothing but
chaffe and scoffes. [m.]

1821. The Fancy, vol. I., 250. He could not of course put up with
chaff in the streets.

1853. Diogenes, II., 79. ‘Maxims for Cabmen.’ If you want oats for
your horses you must cease giving chaff to your passengers.

1864. Athenæum, 29 Oct., No. 1931, P. 557, col. 3. Julius Cæsar
passed his boyhood in a vicious locality, where cant phrases
abounded, but the latter are not recorded. We have heard of the
Famæ non nimium bonæ puellæ, Quales in mediâ sedent Suburrâ—but we
hear only faint echoes of the chaff that was scattered thereupon by
the passers-by.

1890. Globe, Feb. 13, p. 5, col. 2. The extract you send to me from
some letter from Lord Rosebery about the House of Lords looks to me
very like chaff, and was probably intended as such.

2. (Christ’s Hospital).—A small article or plaything, e.g., ‘a pocket chaff.’ Connected with ‘chattel,’ ‘chapman,’ etc.—Blanch. Cf., verbal (sense 2), adjectival, and interjectional senses.

Verb.—1. To banter; to jest; to ‘gammon’ or ‘quiz.’ An analogous term formerly in use was queer (q.v.). So also chaffing and chaffingly. For synonyms, see Gammon, sense 1.

1851. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, I., p. 35. Though he’s only
twelve years old he’ll chaff down a peeler so uncommon severe that
the only way to stop him is to take him in charge.

1864. H. Aïdé, Mr. and Mrs. Faulconbridge, I., 279. ‘Pshaw!’ said
Sir Richard, with a lofty good humour, ‘Don’t chaff your uncle,
sir.’

1889. T. Mackay, on ‘Shoeblacks,’ in Times, Aug., p. 135. I have
known courageous men who would rather try to chaff a bus driver
than a shoeblack.

2. (Christ’s Hospital).—To exchange small articles. Cf., subs. sense.

1877. W. H. Blanch, Blue-coat Boys, p. 96. Chaff me your knife.

Adj. (Christ’s Hospital).—Pleasant; glad. Sometimes chaffy. Cf., subs., sense 2.

Intj. (Christ’s Hospital).—An exclamation signifying joy or pleasure.

Chaff-Cutter, subs. (old).—A back-biter or slanderer.

Chaffer, subs. (colloquial).—1. One given to chaffing. [From chaff (q.v.) + er.]

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, vol. I., p. 357.
She was considered to be the best chaffer on the road; not one of
them could stand against her tongue.

1877. Temple Bar, p. 536. An actor of very moderate abilities, and
so remarkably ill-favoured in person as to be the constant butt of
the chaffers in the pit.

2. (popular).—The mouth, [i.e., the organ of chaff, or ‘ropery.’] For synonyms, see Potato-trap. Also, the tongue.

1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act ii., Sc. 3. Bob. Suppose
we haves a drain o’ heavy wet, just by way of cooling our
chaffers—mine’s as dry as a chip.

1822. David Carey, Life in Paris, p. 194. For there you may damp
your chaffer In fifty different ways.

To moisten one’s chaffer, phr. (common).—To drink. [See Chaffer, sense 2.] For synonyms, see Lush.

Chaffing-Crib, subs. (old).—The place where a man receives his intimates; his ‘den,’ ‘snuggery,’ or ‘diggings.’ [Cf., Chaff. From chaffing, light talk, + crib, a place of sojourning.] For synonyms, see Diggings.

1821. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry. Jerry. Chaffing crib! I’m at fault,
coz, can’t follow. Tom. My prattling parlour—my head quarters, coz,
where I unbend with my pals.

Chaffy, adj. (colloquial).—Full of banter. [From chaff, subs., + y.]

1889. Bird o’ Freedom, Aug. 7, p. 3. chaffy answers were all he got
at first.

Chained or Chain Lightning, subs.—(American).—Whiskey of the vilest description—a spirit ‘warranted to kill at forty rods.’ Hence forty rod lightning, stone-fence, railroad, rotgut, and kill-the-carter (Scots). For synonyms, see Drinks. In the Western States of America, what is known as forked lightning in England, is called chain-lightning, from its forming a sequence of zig-zags.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms p. 215. The worst of lickers, as the
signboards often have it in unconscious irony, is called
chain-lightning, from its terrible strength and stunning effect.

Chain-Gang, subs. (thieves’).—Jewellers; watch-chain makers. The French argot has un boguiste (thieves’) and un chaîniste.

Chair. To put in the chair, phr. (cab-drivers’).—See quot.

1864. Social Science Review, I., 408. A Justice’s order is
sufficient for the committal to prison of a cab hirer (driver) who
will not or cannot pay.... Some hirers who become inured to prison
discipline and prison fare get altogether hardened, and boast of
the number of owners whom they have put in the chair or in polite
English neglected to pay.

Chairmarking, verbal subs. (cab-owners’).—Inserting the date in a cab-driver’s licence in words instead of figures: or, endorsing it in an unusually bold, heavy hand: a hint to possible employers that the holder is undesirable. In other trades it is understood that an unexceptionable character, with the adjectives carefully underlined, is to be read as implying just the opposite of what it appears to say.

1890. Pall Mall Gazette, Sept. 15. A correspondent writes to
protest against the heading ‘A Cabman’s Odd Complaint,’ which was
given in these columns on Saturday to a paragraph concerning the
chair-marking of a licence.

Chaldese, verb (old).—To trick, cheat, or ‘take in.’ [Thought to be from ‘Chaldee,’ in allusion to astrology. Cf., to Jew.] For synonyms, see Stick.

1664. Butler, Hudibras, II., iii., 1010. He stole your cloak and
pick’d your pocket, Chows’d and Caldes’d you like a blockhead.

1680. Rem. (1759), I., 24. Asham’d, that Men so grave and wise,
Should be chaldes’d by Gnats and Flies. [m.]

1697. Dennis, Plot and No Plot, I. I chaldes’d a Judge while he was
taking my Depositions. [m.]

Chalk, subs. (colloquial).—1. A score, reckoning; and (in a more decidedly slang sense) by Chalks, many chalks, long chalks, etc., i.e., ‘degrees’ or ‘marks’; also ‘credit,’ or ‘tick.’ Cf., Clock stopped.

1529. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 613. We’re fayne with a chalke To score
on the balke. [m.]

1592. Nashe, P. Penilesse, B j b. Hee that hath no money must goe
and dine with Sir John best betrust, at the signe of the chalke and
the Post.

1634. S. R., Noble Soldier, v., 3, in Bullen’s O. Pl., I., 333.
There’s lesse chalke upon you[r] score of sinnes. [m.]

1704. T. Brown, Lat. on Fr. King, wks. (1730) I., 60. I trespassed
most enormously in chalk. [m.]

1719. D’Urfey, Pills (1872), I., 270. This wheedling talk you fancy
will rub out my chalk.

1838–40. Haliburton, The Clockmaker (ed. 1862), p. 102. They reckon
themselves here a chalk above us Yankees...

1864–5. Edmund Yates, Broken to Harness, I., p. 174. ‘Can you say
that I have deceived or thrown you over in any way? Never!’ ‘Thank
God for that!’ says the girl, with some bitterness; ‘for that’s a
chalk in my favor, at least.’

2. (nautical).—A scratch or scar. Cf., verb, sense 2, and Chalkers, sense 1.

1840. Marryat, Poor Jack, vi. I got this chalk.

Adj. (turf).—Unknown or incompetent. [From the practice at race-meetings of keeping blank slides at the telegraph board on which the names of new jockeys can be inscribed in chalk, while the names of well-known men are usually painted or printed in permanent characters. The former were called chalk-jockeys, and the general public argued that they were incompetent, being unknown.]

Verb (old).—1. To score up, or tick off, in chalk, a material at one time handier than pen-and-ink. Subsequently in pugilistic circles merit marks, etc., were made with the same.

2. (nautical).—To make one ‘stand treat’ or ‘pay his footing.’ If an old hand succeeds in chalking the shoes of a green hand, the latter has to ‘stand drinks all round.’

3. (thieves’).—To strike, Cf., Chalkers, sense 1.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xvii. (II., p. 84). Chalk him
across the peepers with your cheery [which, translated, means slash
him over the eyes with your dagger].

To chalk up, or to chalk it up, phr. (common).—To credit, or take credit; to put to one’s account.

1597. 1st Pt. Return Parnass., I., i., 451. All my debts stande
chaukt upon the poste for liquor. [m.]

1611. Chapman, May-Day, Act I., p. 278 (Plays, 1874). Faith, sir,
she [hostess] has chalked up twenty shillings already, and swears
she will chalk no more.

1843. Punch’s Almanack, Jan.... ‘When you wish for beer resort
freely to the chalk, and go on, getting as much as you can upon
this principle, until it becomes unproductive, when you may try it
in another quarter.’

To beat by long or many chalks, phr. (common).—To beat thoroughly; to show appreciable superiority.

1837. R. H. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (ed. 1862), p. 447. Still Sir
Alured’s steed was by long chalks the best of the party, and very
soon distanced the rest.

1838–40. Haliburton, The Clockmaker, p. 26 (ed. 1826). ‘Yes,’ says
he, ‘your factories down East beat all natur; they go ahead on the
English a long chalk.’

1856. C. Bronté, Professor, ch. iii. ‘You are not as fine a fellow
as your plebeian brother by a long chalk.’

1883. Grenville Murray, People I Have Met, p. 133. The finest thing
in the world; or, as he himself would have expressed it, ‘the best
thing out by many chalks.’

To walk or stump one’s chalks, phr. (popular).—To move or run away; to be off. [Said to be a corruption of ‘walk! you’re chalked,’ the origin of which is found in the ancient practice of lodgings for the royal retinue being taken arbitrarily by the marshal and sergeant-chamberlain, when the inmates were sent to the right about, and their houses designated by a chalk mark. When Mary de Médicis came to England in 1638, Sieur de Labat was employed to mark ‘all sorts of houses commodious for her retinue in Colchester.’ The same custom is referred to in the Life and Acts of Sir William Wallace, To stump (q.v.) = to go on foot.] For synonyms, see Amputate.

1840. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. xi. ‘The way she walks her
chalks ain’t no matter. She is a regular fore-and-after.’

1843. Comic Almanack, p. 366. And since my future walk’s chalk’d
out—at once I’ll walk my chalks.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 318. The President, in whom he is
disappointed for one reason or another, does not come up to chalk;
when he dismisses an official, he is made to walk the chalk.

To be able to walk a chalk, phr. (popular).—To be sober. [The ordeal on board ship of trying men suspected of drunkenness is to make them walk along a line chalked on the deck, without deviating to right or left. Cf., Making chalks and Toe the line (q.v.).]

Making chalks, phr. (nautical cadets’).—A term connected with the punishment of boys on board ship, and in the Royal Naval School. Two chalk lines are drawn wide apart on the deck or floor, and the boy to be punished places a foot on each of these lines, and stoops, thereby presenting a convenient section of his person to the boatswain or master.

To chalk the lamp-post, phr. (American).—To bribe. For synonyms, see Grease the palm.

1857. Boston Post, March 5. Chalking the lamp post. ‘The term for
bribery in Philadelphia.’

There are other expressions connected with chalk, such as ‘to know chalk from cheese,’ ‘to chalk out,’ etc., but these hardly find a place here.

Chalkers, subs. (old).—1. Men of wit in Ireland, who in the night amuse themselves with cutting inoffensive passengers across the face with a knife. They are somewhat like those facetious gentlemen, some time ago known in England by the title of sweaters and mohocks.—Grose. See Ireland Sixty Years Since (p. 15).

2. sing. (common).—A London milkman.—See quot. [One who mixes with chalk—an obvious innuendo.] Cf., Cow with the iron tail and Simpson’s cow.

1865. Daily Telegraph, Sept. 7 (?). It is an ominous fact that
London milkmen are known in the vocabulary of slang as chalkers.

Chalk-Farm, subs. (rhyming-slang).—The arm.

English Synonyms. Bender; hoop-stick; fin; daddle.

French Synonyms. L’anse (popular: in old French cant anse signified the ‘ear’); les allumettes (popular: ‘the arms’); l[a]’aile or l[e]’aileron (popular: in the Fourbesque ala); les nageoires (plural).

Italian Synonyms. Ala (‘a wing’); barbacana (literally a kind of advanced fortification); tarentule (the Italian has tarantello, ‘a spider’).

Spanish Synonyms. Bracio; remo (properly ‘an oar’).

Chalk-Head, subs. (old).—A nickname for a person with a ‘good head for figures.’ Waiters in London are very commonly so called.—See quot. 1861. [From the ‘chalks’ or score formerly marked up behind a tavern bar, the ‘tally’ being ‘kept in the head’ instead of being ‘chalked up’ on a board or slate.]

1856. Punch, vol. XXXI., p. 134. Billy. You see, Billy, my
heddication war summat neglected, and I haven’t got the nateral
adwantage of a good chalk-head.

1861. Punch, vol. XLI., p. 129. Among tavern waiters a ready
reckoner is called a good chalk-head.

Cham or Chammy, subs. (popular).—An abbreviation of ‘champagne.’ For synonyms, see Drinks. Cf., Boy.

1871. All the Year Round, Feb. 18, p. 285. ‘Let’s have glasses
round. Come and have a bottle of cham.’

Chamber of Horrors, subs. phr.—1. (parliamentary).—The Peeresses’ Gallery in the House of Lords. Cf., Cage, sense 4.

1876. Daily News. There could be no doubt as to the inconvenience,
the gallery being generally known as the Chamber of Horrors.

2. In plural (common).—Sausages. [From the possibility of adulteration in this species of food. Also bags of mystery, and Sharp’s Alley bloodworms.] In Fourbesque, carbonata.

Chamming, verbal subs. (common).—Indulgence in champagne. [From cham, verb (on the model of ‘to wine,’ ‘to beer,’ etc.), to drink champagne, + ing.]

Chance. To have an eye to the main chance, phr. (colloquial). To keep in view that which will result in advantage, interest or gain. [Thought to have originated in the phraseology of the game of hazard.] Murray, quoting from the Dict. Cant. Crew, says that ‘to have an eye to the main chance’ was a cant phrase in 1699, and that the expression still partakes of the character. All the quotations given in the N.E.D. prior to 1699, illustrate a simpler form of the colloquialism, such as to ‘stand to the main chance,’ but it will be seen that to have an eye to the main chance is more than a hundred years older.

1609. Jonson, Case is Altered, IV., 4. Juniper, to the door; an eye
to the main chance. [Removes the dung, and shews him the gold.]

1693. Dryden, Persius, VI., 158. Be careful still of the main
chance, my son; Put out the principal in trusty hands.

1711. Spectator, No. 196. I am very young, and yet no one in the
world, dear sir, has the main chance more in her head than myself.

1844. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xviii., p. 190. ‘Was it
politics? Or was it the price of stock?’ ‘The main chance, Mr.
Jonas, the main chance, I suspect.’

Chancer, subs. (tailors’).—A liar. Also an incompetent workman: i.e., one who ‘chances’ what he cannot do.

Chancery. In Chancery, adv. phr. (common).—‘To have or get your man in chancery’ is to get his head under your left arm so that you can Fib (q.v.) him with your right until he gets it out, or you go to grass (q.v.) together. Primarily pugilistic. Figuratively the expression = in a parlous case; in an awkward fix. The French have adopted the phrases mettre en chancellerie and coup de chancellerie which are almost literal translations.

1819. Thomas Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 77. Lord
St-w-rt’s a hero (as many suppose) and the Lady he woos is a rich
and a rare one; his heart is in chancery, every one knows, and so
would his head be, if thou wert his fair one.

1845. Punch, vol. IX., p. 9. ‘Lord Brougham’s Handbook for
Political Boxing.’ Getting the nob into Chancery is a fine
achievement, I once got several nobs into Chancery: and I certainly
gave several of them severe punishment. This Chancery manœuvre has
been a capital thing for me.

1860. Chambers’ Journal, vol. XIII., p. 15. Marsden suffered him to
approach within distance, dashed his outstretched arms away, and
received his transatlantic head into chancery.

1883. Daily News, 9 Mar., p. 3, col. 7. Thinking the man was a
burglar he rode up to assist, and saw the constable holding
Burtenshaw, and striking him. The constable had the prisoner in
chancery.

Chance the Ducks, phr. (common).—An expression signifying ‘come what may.’ [From the colloquial use of chance, to risk, or take one’s chance of + ducks (q.v.), probably a pleonasm. Cf., please the pigs.

1886. T. Ratcliffe, in N. and Q., 7 S., i., 108. An’ chance the
ducks—this when a man makes up his mind to a risky venture. He will
say, ‘I’ll do it, an’ chance th’ ducks.’

Chance your Arm, phr. (tailors’).—‘Chance it!’ ‘Try it on!’ etc.—[See Chance the ducks,—of which it seems a variant.]

Chaney-Eyed, adj. (common).—One-eyed. [From Chaney, a corruption of ‘China’ or ‘Chinese’; hence, eyes as small as those of the Celestials.] Cf., Squinny-eyed.

Change.—This word, in the sense of coins of one denomination given in exchange for those of another is responsible for several expressive colloquialisms.

To give change, phr. (common).—To ‘pay out’; to give one his deserts. Cf., To take one’s change out of.

To have all one’s change about one, phr. (common).—To be clever; quick-witted; quite ‘compos mentis’; with ‘twelve pence to the shilling about one.’

To put the change on, phr. (old).—To deceive, or mislead. Apparently for a long time a contemporary variant of to ring the changes.

1667. Dryden, Sir Martin Marr-all, Act ii. Warn.... By this light,
she has put the change upon him! O, sweet womankind! how I love
thee for that heavenly gift of lying!

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. xvi., p. 168 (1874). The
box-keeper shall walk off, pretending some speedy dispatch of a
business concerning the House of Office, etc., whilst your
antagonist shall put the change upon you.