Chapter VI: Part 6

1542. Udal, Erasmus’s Apophth., p. 139. Diogenes mocking such
quidificall trifles, that were al in the cherubins, said, Sir
Plato, your table and your cuppe I see very well, but as for your
tabletee and your cupitee I see none soche.

Cheshire Cat. To grin like a Cheshire cat [chewing gravel, eating cheese, or evacuating bones, is sometimes added], phr. (common).—To laugh broadly—to ‘laugh all over one’s face.’ Used disparagingly. [Origin unknown.]

1782. Wolcot (‘P. Pindar’), Pair of Lyric Epistles, in wks.
(Dublin, 1795), vol. II., p. 424. Lo, like a Cheshire cat our Court
will grin!

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xxiv. In fact, Mr. Newcome says to
Mr. Pendennis, in his droll, humourous way, ‘that woman grins like
a Cheshire cat!’ Who was the naturalist who first discovered that
peculiarity of the cats in Cheshire?

1859. Letter from Edward S. Taylor to John Camden Hotten, 22 Dec.
Cheshire cat eating cheese—I have always heard ‘evacuating bones,’
which if less decent is more expressive.

1866. Dodgson (‘Lewis Carroll’), Alice in Wonderland, ch. viii.

Chest. To chuck out one’s chest, phr. (common).—To pull oneself together; stand firm; ‘keep a stiff upper lip.’

Chestnut, subs. (American).—A stale joke or story; an old ‘Joe’; something frequently said or done before. As to the variants of this phrase—their name is legion. The old songs are chestnut songs; he who would foist a stale jest is implored to spare the chestnut tree, not to rustle the chestnut leaves, not to set the chestnut bell a-ringing. [The Philadelphia Press (1888) attributes the introduction of the phrase to Mr. William Warren, a veteran Boston comedian. In a forgotten melodrama, by William Dillon, called The Broken Sword, there were two characters, one a Capt. Xavier, and the other the comedy part of Pablo. Says the captain, a sort of Munchausen, ‘I entered the woods of Colloway, and suddenly from the thick boughs of a cork tree’—when Pablo interrupts him with the words: ‘A chestnut, captain, a chestnut.’ ‘Bah!’ replies the captain. ‘Booby, I say a cork tree.’ ‘A chestnut,’ reiterates Pablo, ‘I should know as well as you, having heard you tell the tale these twenty-seven times.’ Warren, who had often played Pablo, was at a stage-dinner, where one of the men told a story of doubtful age and originality. ‘A chestnut,’ quoth Warren, ‘I have heard you tell the tale these twenty-seven times.’ The application pleased, and when the party broke up each member helped to spread the story and the commentary. This is the most plausible of many explanations.]

1882. Halkett Lord, in N. and Q., 7 S., vii., 53. I first heard the
word [chestnut] in 1882, in a theatrical chop-house (Brown’s) in
New York. The explanation given to me by Mr. Brown—once a
well-known member of Wallack’s company—was ‘Chestnut, because it is
old enough to have grown a beard,’ alluding to the prickly bristly
husk of the nuts.

1886. Dram. Rev., March 27, p. 86 col. 2. Minnie Palmer will give
£1000 to any one who will submit to her an idea for legitimate
advertising.... Chestnut ideas not wanted. [m.]

1888. New York Sun, Jan. 24. ‘May I venture to tell the old, old
story, Miss Maud,’ he said, tremulously; ‘the old, old, yet ever
new, story of—’ ‘Pardon me, Mr. Sampson, if I cause you pain,’
interrupted the girl, gently, ‘but to me the story you wish to tell
is a chestnut.’ ‘A chestnut?’ ‘Yes, Mr. Sampson, I’m already
engaged; but I will be a sister—’ ‘It isn’t as wormy as that one,’
murmured Mr. Sampson, feeling for his hat.

Chete.—See Cheat.

Chew, subs. (common).—A small portion of tobacco; a quid. Cf., Chew the cud.

1880. Jas. Greenwood, Gaol Birds at Large. A piece as large as a
horse-bean, called a chew, is regarded as an equivalent for a
twelve-ounce loaf and a meat ration.

To chew oneself, verbal phr. (American).—To get angry. For synonyms, see Nab the rust.

To chew the cud, verbal phr. (common).—To chew tobacco.

To chew the rag or fat, verbal phr. (military).—To grumble.

c. 1887. Brunlees Patterson, Life in the Ranks. Some of the
‘knowing blokes,’ prominent among whom will be the ‘grousers,’
will, in all probability, be chewing the rag or fat.

Chewallop! intj. (American).—An onomatopœia, representing, it is thought, the sound of an object falling heavily to the ground or into water—See Cachunk.

1835. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. ii. I
felt ... only one stop more [and I] was over head and ears
chewallop in the water.

1888. Hoppe, Englisch-Deutsches Supplement-Lexikon, p. 215. It
means ‘flat down,’ and is a strong expression. If a woman, for ex.,
falls head over heels and flat to the ground, they say, ‘she fell
chewallop.’

Chewre, verb (Old Cant).—To steal.

Chic, subs. (popular).—Finish; elegance; spirit; dash; style—any quality which marks a person or thing as superior. [Originally a French slang term of uncertain origin, Littré being inclined to trace it to chicane, tact or skill. The French chic originally signified subtlety, cunning, skill; and, among English painters, to chic up a picture, or to do a thing from chic = to work without models and out of one’s own head.]

1856. Lever, Martins of Cro’ M., 321. The French have invented a
slang word ... and by the expression chic have designated a certain
property, by which objects assert their undoubted superiority over
all their counterfeits.

1866. Yates, Land at Last, I., p. 110. A certain piquancy and chic
in her appearance.

1871. London Figaro, 28 Feb. Those rollicking break-downs, those
screeching girls who are so much admired for their chic, invariably
give me a headache.

Adj. (common).—Stylish; elegant; ‘up to Dick.’ So also chicdom. [From chic + dom.]

1873. Daily News, 9 June. She must be ready to stick on a bow here
and there, to give herself an air of chicdom. The youthful student,
however, must not go too far in the direction of chic, ... the
chief thing which distinguishes the dress of a lady is the absence
of those prominent and inharmonious decorations, etc.

Chickabiddy, subs. (costers’).—A young girl.—See Biddy. [A nursery name for a chicken, commonly used as an endearment.] For synonyms, see Titter.

Chick-woman.—See ‘Much Ado about Nothing.’ Act 1, Sc. iii.

Chickaleary Cove or Bloke, subs. phr. (costers’).—An ‘artful member,’ otherwise a downy cove (q.v., for synonyms).

c. 1869. Vance, Broadside Ballad. I’m a chickaleary cove, with my
one, two, three; Whitechapel was the village I was born in.

Chicken, subs. (thieves’).—A pint pot. Cf., Hens and Chickens and Cat and kittens.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., p. 276. The hens
and chickens, of the low lodging-houses are the publican’s pewter
measures; the bigger vessels are hens, the smaller chickens.

No chicken, adv. phr. (common).—Elderly. [The term chicken is often applied to children.]

1720. Swift, Stella’s Birthday. Pursue your trade of
scandel-picking, Your hints that Stella is no chicken.

1738. Swift, Polite Conversation (conv. i). I swear she’s no
chicken; she’s on the wrong side of thirty if she be a day.

1742. Fielding, Joseph Andrews, bk. II., ch. ix. Adams, who was no
chicken, and could bear a drubbing as well as any boxing champion
in the universe.

1771. Smollet, Humphry Clinker, l., 68. The knight swore he was no
such chicken, but a tough old rogue, that would live long enough to
plague all his neighbours.

1717–1797. Horace Walpole, Letters, III., 308. I made a visit
yesterday to the Abbess of Panthemont, General Oglethorpe’s niece,
and no chicken.

1859. Sala, Gaslight and Daylight, ch. v. I am no chicken (though
not the gray-headed old fogy that insulting Squirrel presumes to
call me).

To count one’s chickens before they are hatched, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To reckon beforehand upon a successful issue. The Latins said, ‘Don’t sing your song of triumph before you have won the victory’ (ante victoriam canere triumphum). ‘Don’t hallo till you are out of the wood’ has a similar meaning, and in French, to lose a game as good as won = la perdre belle. The expression was doubtless popularised by Butler in his Hudibras [see quot., 1664], but it was known long prior.

1579. Gosson, Ephem., 19a. I woulde not have him to counte his
chickens so soone before they be hatcht. [m.]

1664. Butler, Hudibras, II., iii., 923. To swallow gudgeons ere
they’re catch’d. And count their chickens ere they’re hatched.

Chicken-Butcher, subs. (old).—A poulterer; also a sportsman’s term for anyone shooting immature game.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Chicken-Fixings, subs. (American).—Properly a hash, stew, or fricassee of chicken, but the term is now applied to any fare out of the common, and also to show of any kind. French, la gueulardise. Cf., Common doings.

1864. A Trip to the South. An extraordinary sight were the
countless waiters, held up to the car-windows at Gordonsville by
turbaned negro-women, filled with coffee-cups, eggs, and the
inevitable chicken-fixings, which it was henceforth our fate to
meet at every railway depot, till we reached New Orleans.

18(?). Carlton, New Purchase, vol. II., p. 240. These preachers dress like big bugs, and go ridin’ about on hundred-dollar horses, a-spungin’ poor priest-ridden folks, and a-eaten chicken-fixins so powerful fast that chickens has got scarce in these diggins.

Chi-ike or Chy-ack, subs. (costers’).—A street salute; a word of praise.—See Coo-ey.

c. 1869. Vance, The Chick-a-leary Cove. Now my pals I’m going to
slope, see you soon again, I hope, My young woman is avaiting, so
be quick, Now join in a chyike, the ‘jolly’ we all like.

1885. Daily Telegraph, April 6, p. 6, col. 1. A prosperous butcher
... gives him what Mr. Poleaxer calls a chi-hike at his gate as he
passes that way in his cart, between five and six a.m.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dictionary, s.v.

Verb.—1. To salute or hail.

1886. Sporting Times, 17 July, 7, 2. There was no charge for
admission. Enough. They came, they saw, and they chi-iked.

2. (tailors’).—To chaff unmercifully. For synonyms, see Gammon, sense 1.

To give chi-ike with the chill off, phr.—To scold; abuse. For synonyms, see Wig.

Child.—See This child.

Children’s Shoes.—See Make children’s shoes.

Chill or Take the Chill Off [of liquids], verb (popular).—To warm. Chill is a contraction of the fuller phrase.

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 264. A pint pot, the contents of
which were chilling on the hob.

With the Chill Off, phr. (popular).—An expression of (1) dissent, (2) depreciation, or (3) disbelief. A variant of over the left (q.v.).

Chime, verb (thieves’).—To praise; extol; puff; canoodle: especially with a view to personal advantage.

Chimney, subs. (common).—A great smoker; Fr., un locomotive.

Chimney Chops, subs. (old).—A negro. [An allusion to colour.] For synonyms, see Snowball.

Chimney-Pot, subs. (common).—The silk hat worn by men, as also by women on horseback. Also called a stove-pipe, beaver, bell-topper etc., but for synonyms, see Golgotha. [An allusion to shape and colour.] The French has une cheminée.

1861. Punch, vol. XLI., p. 258. ‘The Riding-Hat Question.’ Lucy.
‘Now tell me, Mary, which is the best?’ Mary (who is rather
horsey). ‘Well, dear, for tea in the arbour and that sort of thing,
perhaps the little round one; but if you want to look like going
across country, the Chimney-pot all to nothing.’

1864. Spectator, p. 356. The chimney-pot hat, for the power of its
transcendant ugliness beat all the artists, penmen, and men of
taste in England, ten years ago.

1871. Echo, 2 March. ‘London Trades—Hatters.’ The shape of the
chimney-pot is constantly changing, as we all know.

1880. Punch’s Almanack, p. 10. Now, why should not gentlemen
content themselves with mere underclothing, and discard the hideous
chimney-pot, Frock Coat, and Trousers of the Period, so fatal to
Pictorial Design?

1890. Daily Graphic, Jan. 7, p. 9, col. 4. Then the crowd go mad.
Up fly head-gear, chimney-pot, and wide-a-wake alike, their owners
careless of their fate.

Chimney-Sweep, subs. (common).—1. A black draught. Cf., Custom-house officer.

2. A clergyman. [In allusion to the black wear of ‘the cloth.’] For synonyms, see Devil-dodger. Sweeps are nicknamed clergymen.

Chin, subs. (American thieves’).—A child. [? A corruption of kinchin.]

Verb (American).—1. To talk; to chatter.

1883. Bread-winners (1884), 161. You haven’t done a thing but ...
eat pea nuts and hear Bott chin. [m.]

1887. New York World. They chin about the best methods of relieving
poverty. [m.]

18(?). Francis, Saddle and Moccasin. He was a worker, and liked nothing better than to get into a circle of young cow-punchers, and chin and josh with them.

2. To talk or act with brazen effrontery.

Chinas, subs. (Stock Exchange). Eastern Extension Australasian and China Telegraph Shares.

Chin-Chopper, subs. (pugilists’).—A drive under the chin. For synonyms, see Dig.

Chink, subs. (old).—1. Money; ready cash; also chinkers, or jink. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

1557. Tusser, Husbandrie, ch. lvii., st. 43, p. 134 (E.D.S.). To
buie it the cheaper, haue chinkes in thy purse.

1595. Shakspeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act i., Sc. 5. I nursed her
daughter, that you talk’d withal; I tell you he that can lay hold
of her Shall have the chinks.

1603. John Day, Law Trickes, Act i. They know me rich,
Horatio,—chinke, chinke! Whilst this holds out, my cause shall
never sincke.

1630. Jonson, New Inn, I. Where every jovial tinker, for his chink,
May cry, Mine host, to crambe! ‘Give us drink.’

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict., 2 ed., s.v.

18(?). Miss Wetherell, Glenham-Family, ch. xxviii. ‘I guess it’s something else,—she had chink enough to buy shoes with, I know.’

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

Chinkers, subs. (old).—1. Money.—See Chink.

1834. Taylor, Ph. van Artevelde, pt. II., iii., 1. We’re vile
crossbow-men, and a knight are you, But steel is steel, and flesh
is still but flesh, So let us see your chinkers.

1887. Baumann, A Slang Ditty. Rum coves that relieve us of chinkers
and pieces, Is gin’rally lagged, Or, wuss luck, they gits scragged.

2. (thieves’).—Handcuffs united by a chain. [Derivation obvious.] For synonyms, see Darbies.

Chin-Music, subs. (American).—Talk; chatter; oratory. Cf., Chin-wag. The French say casser un mot.

1872. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Roughing It, p. 332. The thing
I’m now on is to roust out somebody to jerk a little chin-music for
us.

1874. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Gilded Age. Whereupon a young
sprig ... began to sass [sauce] the conductor with his chin-music.

1876, Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. xxvi. ‘I am not,’ said
he, ‘going to orate. You did not come here, I guess, to hear me pay
out chin-music.’

1883. Bread-Winners, 77. If we have joined this order to listen to
chin-music the rest of our lives.

Chinning, verbal subs. (American).—Chatting; talking.

Chinny, adj. (American).—Talkative. [From chin, verb, sense 1, + ny.]

Chinqua Soldi, subs. phr. (theatrical).—Fivepence. [From the Italian.]

Chinse, subs. (Winchester College).—A chance. [Apparently a corrupted form of the word.]

Chin-Wag, subs. (common).—Talk; chatter; officious impertinence.

1879. Punch, No. 2061, p. 4. I’d just like to have a bit of
chin-wag with you on the quiet.

Chip, subs. (American).—1. [In plural.] Items of news, more especially locals (q.v.).

2. A reporter who collects chips, sense 1.

3. (common).—A sovereign.—See Chips, sense 5.

1883. Miss Braddon, Phantom Fortune, ch. xli. Where sheafs of bank
notes were being exchanged for those various coloured counters
which represented divers values, from the respectable ‘pony’ to the
modest chip

4. (gaming).—See Chips, subs. sense 2.

Verb (American).—To understand. For synonyms, see Twig.

18(?). Francis, Saddle and Moccasin. I knew at once that they had
got scared, and had trenched up like a bevy of quails; so I said to
Jim, ‘Now you let me do the talking, when they begin to sing
“Indians”—don’t you chip?’

To chip in, verb (common).—To contribute one’s share in money or kind; to join in an undertaking; to interpose smartly.

1884. Bret Harte, In the Tunnel. When you’ll hear the next fool
Asking of Flynn—Just you chip in, Say you knew Flynn.

1869. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Innocents at Home, p. 22. Pard,
he was a great loss to this town. It would please the boys if you
could chip in something like that, and do him justice.

1888. American Magazine, Sept. A man who won’t chip in to charity
is always an object of suspicion.

1888. Star, 12 Dec., p. 3, col. 3. Justice Smith here chipped in
with the remark that counsel ... had not curtailed their
cross-examination.

Not to care a chip.—See Care and Fig.

Brother chip, subs. phr. (common).—‘Brother smut’; one of the same trade or profession. Cf., Chip of the old block.

1862. Penny Newsman. ‘Mr. Bernal Osborne on Pigs and Politics.’ I
must say I never saw a set of gentlemen, who were in such excellent
condition without verging upon obesity (considerable laughter). I
could have wished, gentlemen, that there had been a larger show
to-day. At the same time as a brother chip (a laugh)—Oh, gentlemen,
I am a farmer (hear). I am one of those farmers that don’t
understand my business as well as I ought.

Chip of the same, or the same old, block, sometimes abbreviated to chip, phr. (common). A person reproducing certain familiar or striking characteristics. Chip = also a man or thing, and in this sense is equivalent to Bloke, Cove, Cheat, etc., all of which see.

c. 1626. Dick of Devonshire, in Bullen’s Old Plays, ii., 60. Your
father used to come home to my mother, and why may not I be a chipp
of the same blocke, out of which you two were cutt?

1762. Colman, Musical Lady, II., iii. You’ll find him his father’s
own son, I believe; a chip of the old block, I promise you!

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xviii., p. 189. ‘Yes, yes,
Chuffey, Jonas is a chip of the old block. It’s a very old block
now, Chuffey,’ said the old man.

1860. Funny Fellow, May 7, p. 1. Hollo, my kiddy, stir your stumps,
And chuck yourself about; Make haste, young chip, my boots to
shine, Or your shine I’ll quick take out.

1865. M. E. Braddon, Henry Dunbar, ch. xxxviii. I was in love
myself once, though I do seem such a dry old chip.

Chip in porridge, broth, etc., phr. (common).—An old phrase signifying a thing of no moment; a nonentity.

1686. Goad, Celest. Bodies, I., xvii., 108. The Sextile is no chip
in broth ... but a very considerable Engine. [m.]

1688. Vox Cleri Pro Rege, 56. A sort of chip in pottage, which (he
hopes) will not do Popery much good, nor the Church of England much
harm. [m.]

1849. Sir Chas. Napier, as quoted in N. and Q., 1 S., i., p. 383.
‘The reviews which the Commander-in-Chief makes of the troops are
not to be taken as so many chips in porridge.’

1880. Church Times, 25 June. The Burials Bill ... is thought ... to
resemble the proverbial chip in porridge, which does neither good
nor harm. [m.]

Chipper, adj. (American).—‘Fit’; active; ready to ‘chip in.’

Chippy, adj. (common).—Unwell; seedy. Generally used to describe the results of over-indulgence in eating, drinking, etc. Cf., Cheap.

1877. Belgravia, April, p. 235. After two copious libations of the
above [B. and S.], a man is apt to feel chippy next morning.

1884. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish [Ry. ed.], p. 157. A dozen
cigars a day make one feel dreadfully chippy in the morning.

Chips, subs. (old).—1. A carpenter. Fourbesque equivalents are gangherino and zangarino, whilst the Gaunersprache has Mepaie.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. A nick-name for a carpenter.

1851. Chambers’ Paper, No. 52, p. 20. The carpenter, a rough hardy
Swede, rejoicing in the name of Burstrome, was not offended in the
slightest degree at being called chips even by the black cuddy
servant.

1883. Clark Russell, Sailors’ Language, pref., xii. The carpenter
is more politely termed chips.

2. (gaming).—Counters used in games of chance. Cf., Checks.

1869. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Innocents at Home, ch. ii.
Don’t put up another chip till I look at my hand.

3. (American).—Cards. [Mr. C. Nordhoff writing to Mr. John Camden Hotten, on 1 May, 1865, states that ‘chips = slang for cards.’]

4. (common).—Money. [This usage is derived through sense 2, and passes naturally to sense 5 (q.v.).]

1877. W. Black, Green Past. and Picc., ch. xlix. You kent fool away
your hand and keep the chips.

1885. Sporting Times, 23 May. ‘The Chorister’s Promise.’ The
landlady came and knocked at the door—(Sing Fulham Road), Saying
she’d have to clear out, and swore She’d distrain on her wardrobe
what was more (Because of the chips she owed).

5. (general).—A sovereign. Used both in sing. and pl.—See quot. under Chip, sense 3, and Cf., preceding sense.

6. (Wellington College).—A kind of grill, so called from its hardness.

To hand in one’s chips, phr. (gamblers’).—To die. [For probable derivation, see Checks.]

Chirp, verb (thieves’).—1. To talk. For synonyms, see Patter. Grose has chirping merry = exhilarated with liquor.

1884. J. Greenwood, The Little Ragamuffins. I firmly resolved to
chirp, when I was taken before the magistrate to give evidence, as
little as possible.

2. To inform. For synonyms, see Peach.

Chirper, subs. (common).—1. A singer.

2. (common).—A glass or tankard.

1862. George Meredith, Juggling Jerry Poems. Hand up the chirper!
ripe ale winks in it; Let’s have comfort and be at peace. Once a
stout draught made me light as a linnet. Cheer up! the Lord must
have his lease.

3. (common).—The mouth. For synonyms, see Potato trap.

4. (music-hall).—One of a gang frequenting the stage doors of music-halls to blackmail the singers. If money be refused them, they go into the auditorium and hoot, hiss, and groan at the performer. [Cf., Chirrup, quot., 1888.]

1889. Daily News, 2 July, p. 2. Singularly enough the Canterbury
Music-hall ... was mentioned in one of the night-charges, two men
known as chirpers or chirripers being brought before Mr. Biron.

Chirpy, adj. (colloquial).—Cheerful; lively. [From chirp = babble of birds, + y.]

1837. J. Bates, in Ht. Martineau, Soc. Amer., III., 332. It makes
me chirpy to think of Roseland.

1879. Justin McCarthy, Donna Quixote, ch. xxxv. To Charlton this
appeared gravely ominous ... Paulina, on the other hand, was what
she would herself have called chirpy.

1882. Besant, All Sorts and Conditions of Men, ch. xx., p. 146. Her
ladyship put quite a chirpy face upon it.

Chirrup, verb (music-hall).—To cheer or applaud under a system of blackmail. [The term appears to have come into vogue in the early part of 1888.—See quots, under Chirruper; also Cf., Chirper, sense 4, and Chirruping.]

Chirruper.—See Chirper, senses 1 and 4, Fr., un intime.

1888. Pall Mall Gazette, 6 Mar., p. 4, col. 2. A chirruper ...
excused himself at the Lambeth Police Court yesterday by alleging
that ‘he thought there was no harm in it.’

1888. J. Payn, in Illustrated London News, 17 Mar., p. 268. The ...
singers in music-halls cannot ... do without him (the chirruper).
[m.]

Chirruping, verbal subs. (music-hall).—Hanging about stage doors to intercept the ‘artistes,’ and extort money with a statement that the performer who ‘parts’ will be applauded. [For suggested, but very dubious, derivation, see quot., and Cf., Chirper, sense 4.]

1888. Pall Mall Gazette, 9 March, p. 14. Chirruping. Mr. Rintoul
Mitchell writing from the Savage Club [asks] to add a hint as to
the etymology of the word. It is not remote. The French argot for
blackmail is chantage. Such paltry operations as those reported
from the Lambeth music-hall do not merit the description of
singing—they are simply twittering or chirruping.

Chisel, Chizzle, or Chuzzle, verb (common).—To cheat. [Possibly an extension of the orthodox meaning of the verb in the sense of ‘to cut, shave, or pare with a chisel to an excessive degree.’ Jamieson (1808) gives chisel as to cheat, or act deceitfully. Current during the first half of the present century, it seems first to have appeared in literature about 1840. Cf., Gouge, Shave, Skin, and other words of a kindred type.] For synonyms, see Stick.

1844. Illustrated London News, 25 May. ‘The Derby.’ They have
chiseled the peaman and no mistake about that.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. III., p. 78.
When we got home at night we shared 2s. a piece. There was five of
us altogether; but I think they chisselled me.

1858. Savannah Republican, 17 May. When the books were overhauled
by the Committee, it was found that ... the stockholders would be
chiselled out of a pretty considerable sum.

1865. Saturday Review, April. Mr. Hotten has given the supposed
classical originals of ‘Dickey’ and of ‘Skedaddle.’ He might have
traced the slang verb to chisel to the Latin deascio and deruncino.

1865. G. A. Sala, Trip to Barbary, ch. xx. To ‘carrotter’ any one,
say an uncle or a creditor, is to chizzle or ‘chouse’ or ‘do’ him
out of his property amidst assurances of high-flown benevolence and
exalted integrity.

To go full chisel, phr. (American).—To go at full speed or ‘full drive’; to show intense earnestness; to use great force; to go off brilliantly.

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker (1862), 95. The long shanks of a
bittern ... a drivin’ away like mad, full chisel arter a frog.

1878. Mrs. Stowe, Poganuc P., ix., 76. Then he’d turn and run up
the narrow way, full chisel. [m.]

Chiselling, verbal subs. Cheating. [Cf. Chisel, verb.] Variants are bamming; biting; besting; gouging, etc.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 298. Other efforts at cheating are
designated as chisselling—not as some have believed from the
practice of chiselling, that is, opening by means of cold chisels
the safes of banks and merchants, since the term is much older than
the introduction of safes.

Chit, subs. (Anglo-Indian).—1. A letter; corruption of a Hindoo word.

1785. In Seton-Karr, I., 114. [They] may know his terms by sending
a chit. [m.]

1887. Chamb. Jour., 25 June, p. 411. He had brought a note or
chitti, as they call it in those parts [Bengal].

2. (society).—An order for drinks in clubs, etc. [Obviously an extended use of sense 1. In India the practice of writing chits or notes on the smallest provocation has always been carried to excess.]

3. (common).—A girl, under age and undersized. For general synonyms, see Titter.

4. subs. (Scots). Food eaten in the hand: as a thumber (q.v.), a workman’s lunch, and a child’s piece (q.v.).

Chitterlings, subs. (old).—The shirt frills once fashionable. [Properly the entrails of a pig, to which they are supposed to bear some resemblance.]

Chitty, subs. (tailors’).—An assistant cutter or trimmer.

Chitty-Faced, adj. (old).—Thin; weazened; baby-faced. Cf., Chit, sense 3.

1601. Munday, Downf. R. Earl of Huntingdon, I., iii. You
halfe-fac’t groat, you thick [? thin] cheekt chitti-face. [m.]

1621. Burton, Anat. of Melan., [2nd ed.], p. 519. A thin, lean,
chitty-face.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew.

1725. New Cant. Dict.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum.

1859. Hotten, Slang Dict.

Chiv.—See Chive.

Chivalry, subs. (old).—Coition. [From the Lingua Franca or O. F. chevaulcher.] For synonyms, see Greens and Cf., Ride.

Chive or Chiv, subs. (thieves’).—1. A knife. [The Gypsy has chive, to stab.]

English Synonyms. Arkansas toothpick (a bowie knife); cabbage-bleeder; whittle; gully; jocteleg (a clasp knife: a corruption of Jacques de Liége); snickersnee (nautical); cuttle; cuttle-bung; pig-sticker.

French Synonyms. Un bince (thieves’); un coupe-lard (popular: literary ‘a bacon slicer,’ lard being used as the English ‘bacon’ for the human body); un coupe-sifflet (thieves’: couper le sifflet à quelqu’un = ‘to cut any one’s throat’); un lingre or lingue (thieves’: from Langres, a manufacturing town); un trente-deux or un vingt-deux (thieves’: originally terms used by Dutch and Flemish thieves’); un chourin or surin (thieves’: possibly from the Gypsy churi, ‘a knife’); un pliant (thieves’); une petite flambe (thieves’: also a sword, said by Michel to be derived from Flamberge, the name of the sword of Renaud de Montauban. Mettre flamberge au vent = ‘to draw’).

German Synonyms. Hechtling; Kaut (possibly connected with the English ‘cut’); Mandel or Mandle: (Viennese thieves’: in the Gaunersprache = ‘a man,’ especially a little one); Sackin, Sackem, Sackum, Zackin, Zacken (from the Hebrew sochan); Schorin or Schorie (from the Gypsy churi, which in Hanover appears as Czuri).

Italian Synonym. Bacchetto.

Portuguese Synonym. Sarda.

1674. R. Head, Canting Academy, 12. He takes his chive and cuts us
down.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4 ed.), p. 11. Chieve, knife.

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

1828. Jon. Bee, Picture of London, p. 26. Some of these accomplices
also carry a chiv, or knife.

1837. Disraeli, Venetia, ch. xiv. ‘Berwnu,’ he shouted, ‘gibela
chiv for the gentry cove.’

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., XL., 503. So we had a fight,
and he put the chive (knife) into me.

2. See Chivey.

Verb.—To stab; to ‘knife.’

1725. New Cant. Dict. To Chive his Darbies: to saw asunder his
Irons.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v. To chiv a person is to stab or
cut him with a knife.

1868. Cassell’s Magazine, May, p. 80. He [a bushranger] was as good
a man as Jacky at any weapon that could be named, and if Jacky were
game for a chiving (stabbing) match, he (Kavanagh) was ready for
him.

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., XL., 503. After the place got
well where I was chived.

Chive-Fencer, subs. (costers’).—A street hawker of cutlery. [From chive, a knife, + fence or fencer, a receiver of stolen property.]

Chivey or Chivvy, subs. (common).—A shout; greeting or cheer. Cf., Chi-ike.

Verb (common).—To ‘guy’; to chase round or hunt about; to throw or pitch about. Also chevy. [Mr. C. G. Leland says in Annandale (vol. I., 460) chivvy is a common English word, meaning to goad, drive, vex, hunt, or throw as it were here and there. It is purely Gypsy. Chiv in Rommany means anything sharp-pointed, as a dagger, goad, or knife. The old Gypsy word Chiv among its numerous meanings has exactly that of casting, throwing, pitching, and driving. Murray, however, inclines to derive it from Chevy Chase, the scene of a famous Border skirmish; in any case the usage is modern, but see quot., 1821.] So also chivied, chiveying, etc.

1821. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, I., vii. Log. Come along, then.
Now, Jerry, chivey! Jerry. Chivey? Log. Mizzle! Jerry. Mizzle? Log.
Tip your rags a gallop! Jerry. Tip my rags a gallop?... Log. Bolt!
Jerry. Bolt? Oh, aye! I’m fly now. You mean go.

1840. Gen. P. Thompson, Exerc. (1842), V. 50. The other side are to
blame, if they do not, as we should say in the dragoons ‘chevy’
them back again.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. III., p. 44. I
never had patience enough to try and kill fleas by my process; it
would be too much of a chivey to please me.

1863. H. Kingsley, Austin Elliot, ch. xxxix. The dog ... used to
chivy the cats into the window among the bon bons, and play the
deuce and all.

1864. Eton School-days, ch. xiv., p. 168. Burke, however, ran the
faster of the two, and after a short chivey, succeeded in capturing
him.

1868. Miss Braddon, Trail of the Serpent, bk. VI., ch. iv. The
Board of Health came a-chivying of us to take up our floorings, and
limewash ourselves inside.

1871. Daily News Report, ‘A Republican Demonstration in Hyde Park,
on Sunday, April 17.’ A comparatively decent man selling ‘A History
of Ireland’ was mobbed and chivied from side to side.

Chiving Lay, subs. phr. (old).—Cutting the braces of coaches behind, whereupon, the coachman quitting the box, an accomplice broke and robbed the boot. Also cutting through the back of the coach to snatch the large and costly wigs then fashionable.—Grose. [From Chive, a knife.]

Chivy or Chevy, subs. (thieves’).—The face. For synonyms, see Dial.

c. 1886. Music Hall Song. ‘’Aint he got an artful chevy.’

Verb.—To scold; to bullyrag. For synonyms, see Wig.

Choakee.—See Chokey.

Chock, verb (streets’).—To strike a person under the chin. [Probably a corruption of to chuck, i.e., ‘chuck under the chin.’]—See Chocker.

Chocker, subs. (streets’).—A man. Generally Old Chocker, and thus comparable with Old Codger (q.v.). The term is not however, used in contempt; presumably, therefore, it signifies a manly man, i.e., one who is capable of ‘chocking.’—See Chock.

Chocolate. To give chocolate without sugar, phr. (old).—To reprove.—Grose [1785], and Lexicon Balatronicum [1811].

Choke-Dog, subs. (common).—Cheese; especially that made in Devonshire.

1870. Good Words, March. As I have said before, the Dorsetshire
hind is undoubtedly under-fed. Bread and choke-dog, as he calls his
county’s cheese, etc.—these, as I have said before, are the chief
items in his bill of fare.

Choke Off, verb (common).—To get rid of; to put a stop to; and in a milder sense, ‘to run contrary to.’ [In the first instance the idea was associated with the throttling of bull-dogs to make them loose their hold; but the editor of a recent edition of the Slang Dictionary (Mr. Henry M. Sampson of The Referee) adds en parenthèse, ‘Of course by those who don’t know the scientific way used in canine exhibitions and dog-fights—of biting their tails till they round to bite the biter.’]

English Synonyms. To shut off; to shunt; to fub off; to rump; to cold shoulder. For synonyms in a more emphatic sense, see Floor.

French Synonyms. Envoyer quelqu’un s’asseoir (popular: Cf., ‘to set one down’); arrêter les frais (‘to put a stop to proceedings.’)

1818. Cobbett, Pol. Reg., XXXIII., 72. The Duke’s seven mouths ...
made the Whig party choak off Sheridan. [m.]

1848. New York Exp., 21 Feb. (Bartlett). In the House ... of ...
Representatives. The operation of choking off a speaker was very
funny, and reminded me of the lawless conduct of fighting
school-boys.

1864. Derby Day, p. 155. ‘That will do, mother,’ he said; ‘I think
I have had my five shillings’ worth’; but the gipsy would not be
choked off until she had finished the patter she had learnt by
heart.

1870. London Figaro, 26 November. The hair-oil vendor was
proceeding in this strain of eulogium on the virtues of his
particular invigorating application when he was gently but firmly
choked off.

1883. Graphic, July 7, p. 11, col. 2. English dealers attend these
fairs with the object of purchasing these noble-looking animals,
but prices have now risen to £20 per head, and the English demand
is being choked off.

Choker, subs. (common).—1. A cravat; primarily the large neckerchief once worn high round the neck. Sometimes white choker (q.v.), the white neckerchief peculiar to evening dress.

English Synonyms. Neckinger; tie (this is now technical, but was formerly a slang term); crumpler.

French Synonyms. Un collier or coulant; un blave or blavin; un épiploon (students’).

1848. Thackeray, Book of Snobs, ch. i., p. 146. The usual attire of
a gentleman, viz., pumps, a gold waistcoat, a crush hat, a sham
frill, and a white choker.

1853. Wh. Melville, Digby Grand, ch. xix. Cram on a wrap-rascal and
a shawl choaker. Never mind the gold-laced overalls and spurs.

1853. Rev. E. Bradley (‘Cuthbert Bede’), Verdant Green, pt. I., p.
72. I’ll take off his choker and make him easy about the neck, and
then we’ll shut him up and leave him. Why, the beggar’s asleep
already.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. vii. There’s Mr. Brown, who oils his
hair, and wears rings, and white chokers—my eyes! such white
chokers!—and yet we call him the handsome snob!

1869. Orchestra, 20 August. I found myself elbowing a
fellow-countryman in a button-up waistcoat, and white choker!

1871. London Figaro, 13 May, p. 3, col. 3. ‘Bill ain’t hungry this
morning,’ she repeated; ‘or the cove with the white choker ’ud be
safe to collar. But look!’

2. (popular).—An all-round collar. Cf., All-rounder.

1869. New York Herald, 6 Sept. ‘Prince Arthur in Canada.’ A neat
and elegant black dress coat, closely buttoned, pants of a light
drab hue, a choker collar of enormous size, and a black silk tie,
were the garments most conspicuous.

3. (common).—A garotter.—See Wind-stopper.

4. (thieves’).—A cell; prison; lock up.—See Chokey.

1884. St. James’s Gazette, Jan. 4, p. 12, col. He preferred to go
to choker.

5. (thieves’).—The hangman’s rope or ‘squeezer’; a halter. For synonyms, see Horse’s nightcap.

White-choker, subs. (common).—A clergyman. [In allusion to the white ties worn by ‘the cloth.’] For synonyms, see Devil-dodger.

1849. Punch’s Almanack. The Swell Mobsman’s Almanack. Plant about
Exeter ’All, in May take old ladies on way to ’All, as they
generally hempties into the plate. The vite chokers may be fingured
on their way ’ome as they mostly brings hoff a pocketful.

1852. Comic Almanack. ‘Modes of addressing persons of various
ranks.’ The Clergy as a body, you will speak of as the
white-chokers, The lay aristocracy are simply styled The Nobs.

Chokered, ppl. adj. (common).—Wearing a choker (q.v.).

1866. London Review, 7 April, p. 388, col. 1. A whitebait waiter is
admirably chokered.

Chokey, Choky, Chokee or Choker, subs. (common).—1. A prison. [Indian: from Hindī chaukī, a shed, station, or lock-up. In use from 1698 onwards and transferred to English slang early in the present century.] The Queen’s Bench prison has been called the Queen’s chokey. For synonyms, see Cage.

1836. Michael Scott, Cruise of the Midge (ed. 18), p. 107. Lord,
but it’s chokey!

1866. London Miscellany, March 3, p. 58, col. 1. I’ve jist crept
out o’ chokey. This is the twenty-ninth time I’ve been took that
way, and I’m jist gone twenty.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. ii., p. 131. Both were
marched off to chokee, and I have no doubt got punished.

1877. Besant and Rice, This Son of Vulcan, II., ch. vi., p. 223.
Find out this stranger, and, by God, I’m a justice of the peace,
and I’ll cool his heels in chokee for a month.

1884. Daily News, Sept. 24, p. 3, col. 1. Wright ... would get two
or three days’ choky (i.e., bread and water).

2. (prison).—A cell, specially a punishment cell. For synonyms, see Clinch.

1889. Answers, 30 March, p. 280, col. 2. But I am reminded that I
have not yet described that horrible institution known as the dark
cell—chokey, we convicts called it.

Chonkeys, subs. (common).—See quot.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 208.
Chonkeys, or a kind of mincemeat baked in crust.

Chop, subs. (old).—1. A blow. Once (in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries) literary; and still respectable in a ‘chopping’—i.e., a beating ‘sea.’

2. An exchange; a barter. Cf., Chop and change.

1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 140. I
purchased, or more properly speaking, had a chop with a wooden bowl
maker from Chesham.

Verb (colloquial).—1. To exchange; to barter: as, to chop logic = to give argument for argument; and to chop stories = to ‘cap’ one anecdote with another. Also to change quarters: as ‘the wind chopped round to the north.’ Cf., Swap.

1554. Latimer, wks. (1845), II., 433. Shall we go about to chop
away this good occasion, which God offereth us. [m.]

1693. Shadwell, Volunteers, IV. (1720), iv., 467. Horses that are
jades ... may be chopt away or sold in Smithfield. [m.]

1871. City Press, Jan. 21. ‘Curiosities of Street Literature.’ He
hangs out in Monmouth-court, And wears a pair of blue-black
breeches, Where all the ‘Polly Cox’s crew’ do resort, To chop their
swag for badly-printed dying speeches.

2. To eat a chop.

1841. Mrs. Gore, Cecil, xx. I would rather have chopped at the
‘Blue Posts’ as I once did, fifteen years before. [m.]

1887. Sala, Illustrated London News, Feb. 5, 144. I went one day
... to chop at the ‘Cock.’ [m.]

3. (colonial).—See quot.

1871. Sheffield Telegraph, April. West African (New Calabar) slang
for cannibalistic practice. He’s chopped, i.e., he is eaten.

Chop and change, subs. phr. (colloquial).—Ups and downs; vicissitudes; changes of fortune.

1759–67. Sterne, Tristam Shandy [ed. 1772], I., ch. xi. [Surnames]
which, in a course of years, have generally undergone as many chops
and changes as their owners.

1835. Marryat, Jacob Faithful, xvi. At last we were all arranged
... although there were several chops and changes about until the
order of precedence could be correctly observed.

1845. Hood, To Kitchener, iii. Like Fortune, full of chops and
changes.

1849–50. Thackeray, Pendennis, III., p. 423. I have heard of all
that has happened, and all the chops and changes that have taken
place during my absence.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II., 238. The accounts
of such transactions for a series of years, with all their chops
and changes.

Verbal phr., trs. and intrs.—To barter; buy and sell; exchange; change tactics; veer frequently from one side to the other; vacillate, etc.

1485. Digby Myst. (1882), v., 641. I ... choppe and chaunge with
Symonye, and take large yiftes. [m.]

1593. G. Harvey, Pierces Super., in wks. II., 115. To mangle my
sentences, hack my arguments, chopp and change my phrases.

1672. Wycherley, Love in a Wood, wks. V. (1713), 431. We have
chop’d and chang’d, and hid our Christina’s so long, and often,
that at last, we have drawn each of us our own?

1706. E. Coles, Eng. Dict. Chop Church, changing of one Church for
another.

1883. Principal Shairp, in Good Words, Jan., p. 27. The politicians
seemed bent on making the Church a tool which they might chop and
change as the political wind blew.

First chop, second chop, etc. (q.v.).

Chop-Chop, adv. (pidgin).—Immediately; quickly.

1878. Jas. Payn, By Proxy, ch. ii. ‘Chow-chow is not fish, but
food,’ explained Conway, laughing, ‘and chop-chop only means
directly.’

Chopper or Chopping Blow, subs. (pugilistic).—1. See quotation. For synonyms, see Dig, Bang, and Wipe.

1819. Thos. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, pref., p. 30. A
chopper is a blow, struck on the face with the back of the hand.
Mendoza claims the honour of its invention, but unjustly; he
certainly revived, and considerably improved it. It was practised
long before our time—Broughton occasionally used it; and Slack, it
also appears, struck the chopper in giving the return in many of
his battles.

2. (trade).—A sausage maker.

1865. Pall Mall Gazette, 4 Sept., p. 9, col. 2. I was glad to get
it off to a chopper at last.... Dr. Letheby explained that a
chopper is the trade term for a sausage maker.

To have a chopper, or Button, on, phr. (printers’).—To be miserable; ‘down in the dumps’ or in a fit of the ‘blues.’

Chopping, adj. (old).—Sexually forward; said of girls unduly ‘vain and amatorious.’ [An extension in sense of chopping = strapping, thumping, bouncing, etc.] The French express it by avoir la cuisse gaie.

Chopping-Block, subs. (pugilistic).—A man like a butcher’s block, i.e., who takes an immense amount of ‘punishment’ in a fight without the science or the strength to return it.

Chops. To lick the chops, phr. (common).—See quots. [Chops = the mouth, lips, jaws.] Fr., les jaffes.

1655. Fellowes, tr., Milton’s 2nd Defence, 227. The sight of this
egg ... caused our monarchy-men ... to lick their chops. [m.]

1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 6, Manager. Of course then the Tories will
take office? Punch. I rayther suspect they will. Have they not been
licking their chops for ten years outside the Treasury door while
the sneaking Whigs were helping themselves to all the fat tit-bits
within?

Down in the Chops or mouth, phr. (colloquial).—Sad, melancholy. Cf., To have a chopper on.

1830. Sir E. B. Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 28, ed. 1854. ‘Vy, Paul,
my kid, you looks down in the chops; cheer up, care killed a cat.’

1868. Brewer, Phrase and Fable. Down in the chops—i.e., down in the
mouth; in a melancholy state; with the mouth drawn down. Chop or
chap is Saxon for mouth; we still say a pig’s chap.

Chop the Whiners, verbal phr. (thieves’).—To say prayers. [From an extended use of chop in the sense of to bandy words—hence to speak + whiners (q.v.), prayers.] Fr., manger sa paillasse.

1830. Bulwer Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 2, ed. 1854. I tells you, I
vent first to Mother Bussblour’s, who, I knows, chops the whiners
morning and evening to the young ladies, and I axes there for a
Bible, and she says, says she, ‘I ’as only a Companion to the
Halter! but you’ll get a Bible, I think at Master Talkins the
cobbler as preaches.’

1857. Punch, 31 Jan. For them coves in Guildhall and that blessed
Lord Mayor, Prigs on their four bones should chop whiners I swear.

Chortle, verb (popular).—To chuckle; to laugh in one’s sleeve; to ‘snort.’ [Introduced by Lewis Carrol in Through the Looking Glass.—See quot.]

1872. Lewis Carrol, Through the Looking Glass, i. ‘O frabjous day!
Callooh! Callay!’ He chortled in his joy.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, xxxii., 242. It makes the
cynic and the worldly-minded man to chuckle and chortle with an
open joy.

1887. Athenæum, 3 Dec., p. 751, col. 1. A means of exciting cynical
chortling.

1888. Daily News, 10 Jan., p. 5, col. 2. So may chortle the
Anthropophagi. [m.]

Chosen Twelve.—See Apostles.

Chouse, subs. (colloquial).—1. A trick; swindle; sham; or ‘sell’ (q.v.). [From chouse, a cheat, trickster, or swindler, through the verb. The derivation is thus discussed and weighed by Dr. Murray: ‘As to the origin of the Eng. use, Gifford (1814), in a note on the quot. from Ben Jonson, says, ‘In 1609, Sir Robt. Shirley sent a messenger or chiaus to this country, as his agent from the Grand Signior and the Sophy to transact some preparatory business.’ The latter ‘chiaused the Turkish and Persian merchants of £4,000,’ and decamped. But no trace of this incident has yet been found outside of Gifford’s note; it was unknown to Peter Whalley, a previous editor of Ben Jonson, 1756; also to Skinner, Henshaw, Dr. Johnson, Todd, and others who discussed the history of the word. Yet most of these recognised the likeness of chouse to the Turkish word, which Henshaw even proposed as the etymon on the ground that the Turkish chiaus ‘is little better than a fool.’ Gifford’s note must therefore be taken with reserve.’] The word is also used at Eton in this sense, but see sense 2, which is the commoner. Variously spelt chiaus, chews, showse, ghowse, and chouse.

1610. Ben Jonson, Alchymist, I., ii., 25. ‘D. What do you think of
me? That I am a chiause? Face. What’s that? D. The Turk [who] was
here. As one would say, doe you think I am a Turke?’

1639. Ford, Lady’s Trial, II., i. Gulls, or Moguls, Tag, rag, or
other, hogen-mogen, vanden, Skip-jacks, or chouses.

1672. Wycherley, Love in a Wood, I., i., wks. (1713), 343. You are
no better than a chouse, a cheat.

1673. Wycherley, Gent. Danc. Master, III., in wks. (1713), 295. He
a dancing-master, he’s a chouse, a cheat, a meer cheat.

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict. (2 ed.).

2. (Eton College).—A shame; an imposition.

1864. Athenæum. When an Eton boy says that anything is ‘a beastly
chouse,’ he means that it is a great shame; and when an Eton
peripatetic tradesman is playful enough to call his customer ‘a
little chouser,’ he means that a leaf has been taken out of his own
book by one on whom he has practised.

1883. Brinsley Richards, Seven Years at Eton. The boy ... was told
that what he had done was an awful chouse.

Verb (colloquial).—To cheat. [For suggested derivation, see subs., sense 1.] Synonyms will be found under Stick.

1659. Shirley, Honoria and Mam., II., iii. We are in a fair way to
be ridiculous.... Chiaus’d by a scholar! [m.]

1663. Pepys, Diary, May 15. The Portugalls have choused us, it
seems, in the Island of Bombay, in the East Indys.

1708. Centlivre, Busie Body, Act iii. You and my most conscionable
Guardian here ... plotted and agreed, to chouse a very civil,
honest, honourable gentleman, out of a Hundred Pound.

1742–4. Roger North, Lives of the Norths, I., 90. The judge held
them to it, and they were choused of the treble value.

1823. Hints for Oxford, p. 26. Everything in common use at Oxford,
with the exception, perhaps, of books, is charged at an exorbitant
rate; and, what is worse ... you are often having yourself choused
with abominable trash.

1890. Academy, Feb. 22, p. 125, col. 1. Susan Burnay’s letters,
with charming naïveté, confess that, in the expectation of an early
visit from the delightful mimic, she for four mornings was up at
seven o’clock, only to find herself, borrowing the slang phrases of
the day, ‘choused, for he nick’d us entirely, and never came at
all.’

So also choused, ppl. adj., chousing, verbal subs., and chouser, subs.

Chout, subs. (East London).—An entertainment.—Hotten.

Chovey, subs. (costermongers’).—A shop. A shopman is known amongst the fraternity as a man-chovey, and a shop-woman as ann-chovey.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant (2 ed.), 444. A shop—Chovey.

French Synonyms. Une boutogue (thieves’); une boutanche (thieves’); un boucard (thieves’); un rade or radeau (thieves’); also primarily, a till.

German Synonym. Chenwene (a market stall, the stock itself, or a box full of goods; Chenwener, the owner of such a place—a merchant or shop-keeper).

Chow, subs. (theatrical).—Talk; ‘lip’; jaw; e.g., to have ‘plenty of chow’ = to have a good deal to say.

Verb (theatrical).—To talk incessantly; to grumble. A variant is to chip. [Chow is apparently a form of ‘chew,’ now fallen into desuetude.]

Chowder-Headed, adj. (American).—Stupid. [The term though only dialectical in England is pretty general in U.S.A. It is given by Murray as a variant of cholter-headed, which in turn is another form for jolt or jolter-headed. Chowder is properly a kind of hotch-potch, and applied to the intellectuals would imply ‘confusedness,’ and hence idiocy.]

1819. Scott, Lett., 15 April, in Lockhart. I hesitate a little
about Raeburn ... [he] has twice already made a very chowder-headed
person of me.

1851. H. Melville, Whale, xv., 73. What’s that stultifying saying
about chowder-headed people? [m.]

18(?). S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Launch of the Steamer ‘Capital.’ The Showman ... grabbed the orchestra and shook him up, and says, ‘That lets you out, you chowder-headed old clam.’

Christen, verb (thieves’)—1. To erase the markings from a watch, and substitute a fictitious inscription, with a view to preventing identification. An Old Cant variant was to church (q.v.), the derivation being analogous. French thieves, in speaking of a Christened watch or other ‘faked’ silver, use couvert.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 74. This alteration is
called christening, and the watch thus transformed faces the world
without fear of detection.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3 ed., p. 444. To alter the maker’s
name in a watch—to christen a yack.

1868. Doran, Saint and Sinn., II., 290. The pietist thieves ...
christen daily as soon as they have stolen a watch. This thieves’
christening consists in erasing the maker’s name and supplying
another. [m.]

1872. Standard, ‘Middlesex Sessions Report.’ William Miller, the
detective officer in the case, being called upon by the judge to
state what he knew of the prisoner, said he knew him by his trade
as a baker, but he mixed up with watch thieves and housebreakers,
and the tools found in his possession he used for christening
stolen watches and putting new bows to them.

2. (colloquial).—To mix water with wine; to mix liquors generally. Fr., Maquiller le vitriol = to adulterate brandy; monter sur le tonneau (vinters’ = to add water to a cask of wine). A Spanish equivalent is exactly translated bautizar el vino. To drown the miller (q.v.), = to add too much water.

1824. Scott, Redgauntlet, let. xiii. We’ll christen him with the
brewer (here he added a little small beer to his beverage).

3. (low).—To souse from a chamber utensil.

4. (common).—To take a dram; or ‘do a drain,’ in celebration of something, as the purchase of a new pair of boots, a removal, etc.

Christian, subs. (common).—A good fellow; a decent or presentable person. [A human being as distinguished from the brute creation, in which sense it is used by Shakspeare; the modern slang usage was apparently introduced by Dickens.]—See quots. in various senses.

1595. Shakspeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act iii., Sc. 1, 272.
Thee hath more qualities than a Water-Spaniell, which is much in a
bare Christian.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, Christian: a tradesman who has faith,
i.e., will give credit.

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, xxxiv. You must take your passage
like a Christian; at least, as like a Christian as a fore-cabin
passenger can.

1859. Times, 20 April. Grey parrot for sale, the property of a
lady. She talks like a Christian, and is in first-rate condition.
Price, including cage. £15. Apply, etc., etc.

Adj. (common).—Decent; respectable, etc.—[See subs.]

Christian Pony, subs. phr. (old Irish slang).—The chairman or president of a meeting.

Christians, subs. pl. (Cambridge Univ.).—Members of Christ’s College.—[Of obvious derivation.]

Christmas, Christmassing, subs. and verbal subs. (colloquial).—Holly and mistletoe.

1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers, p. 228 (ed. 1857). The fat boy
pointed to the destination of the pies. ‘Wery good,’ said Sam,
‘stick a bit o’ Christmas in ’em.’

1851. H. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 141. In
London a large trade is carried on in Christmasing, or in the sale
of holly and mistletoe for Christmas sports and decorations....
‘Look,’ said a gardener to me, ‘what’s spent on a Christmasing the
churches!’

Chuck, subs. (prison).—1. Bread; meat; in fact, refreshment of any kind.

1850. Lloyd’s Newspaper, Oct. 6. ‘Inquest on murder of Rev. Mr.
Hollest, Frimley Grove, Surrey.’ Macey, the village constable,
stated that the prisoner, upon coming to his cottage door had tried
hard to get some chuck out of him, but had failed.