Chapter VII: Part 7

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. i., p. 4. Two large slices
of bread, ... the allowance given out to some prisoner who ... had
forgotten to eat what in prison slang is called his ‘toke’ or
chuck.

1877. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Life on the Mississippi, ch.
lii., p. 463. i wish i was nere you so i could send you chuck
(refreshments) on holidays.

2. (common).—Scraps of meat; block ornaments (q.v.). For synonyms, see Duck.

1871. Echo, 11 Dec. ‘Sunday amongst the Silk Weavers.’ Few regular
butchers ply their trade on Sunday morning—money is only to be made
by the vendors of nauseous substitutes for wholesome meat—the
refuse portion of beef and mutton, tough, coarse, and meagre pork,
flaccid tripe, lean little sheeps’ chuks, as the natives call them,
the savourless saveloy of Old England.

1887. Standard, 20 Jan. ‘The Poor at Market.’ From a sort of
ludicrous spirit of snobbery a labourer will term a fellow he
dislikes a ‘beggar who eats chuck,’ chuck being a low-priced part
of the carcase.

3. (Billingsgate).—See quot.

1851–61. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 73. Sprats
... are sold at Billingsgate by the ‘toss,’ or chuck, which is
about half a bushel, and weighs about 40 lbs. to 50 lbs.

4. (colloquial).—A toss or throw.

1883. Punch, June 2, p. 264, col. 1. The average number of chucks
at cocoa-nuts before achieving success is six.

5. (nautical).—Sea biscuit. Cf., senses 1 and 6. A sailor’s variant is ‘chow-dow.’

1864. Standard, 13 Dec. Of naval slang Mr. Hotten has missed the
words chuck, used by sailors for biscuit, and barge, the box or
cask in which the chuck is kept by the messes on the lower deck.

6. (military).—Mealy bread. Cf., nautical usage, sense 5.

7. (Westminster School).—A schoolboy’s treat.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dict., p. 101, s.v.

Verb (colloquial).—1. To throw; especially to throw away; to pitch.

1593. Prodigal Son, iv., 112. Yes, this old one will I give you
(chucks him old hose and doublet). [m.]

1627. Drayton, Agincourt, 63. In the Tauerne, in his cups doth
rore, chocking his crownes. [m.]

1753. Adventurer, No. 43. I ... was kicked about, hustled, tossed
up, and chucked into holes.

1771. Smollet, Humphry Clinker, l. 36. Dirt and trash chucked into
it by roguish boys for the joke’s sake.

1820. Coombe, Dr. Syntax, tour II., ch. i. Yes, faith, as I’ve a
soul to save, I will for nothing dig her grave; Yes, I would do it
too as willing As if her hand had chuck’d a shilling.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xxxix., p. 342. I’m not only ready but
villin’ to do anythin’ as’ll make matters agreeable; and if
chuckin’ either o’ them sawbonesses out of winder u’ll do it, I’m
the man.

1851. H. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 150. Many a
time I walked through the streets and picked a piece of bread that
the servants chucked out of the door.

1864. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, bk. IV., ch. i. ‘When you’re
ready for your snooze,’ said the honest creature, ‘chuck yourself
on my bed in the corner.’

2. (vagrants’).—To eat.—See subs., sense 1. For synonyms, see Grub.

1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 192. Mo and
his man were having a great breakfast one morning ... Mo exclaimed
to his man, ‘Chuck rumbo (eat plenty), my lad.’

3. (pigeon fanciers’).—To despatch a pigeon. Cf., sense 1, and To chuck it; also Hard chuck.

4. (general).—To spend extravagantly. For synonyms, see Ducks and Drakes.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. xviii. Next to
unlimited chucking of his own money, the youthful Englishman would
like—what he never gets—the unlimited chucking of other people’s.

5. (old).—To desire (sexually); to be ‘warm,’ or a hot member (q.v.).

To chuck, chuck it, or chuck up, verbal phr. To abandon; ‘turn up’; dismiss; turn out of doors; to give up. Also chuck it up = ‘drop it.’ [From the custom of throwing up the sponge at a prize fight in sign of defeat. Often corrupted into jack up.—See Sponge. A French equivalent is laisser tout en plan.

1869. Daily Telegraph, 6 Sept. ‘Season at Baden.’ Why is it that
Englishwomen can never combine their colours, or put on their
clothes? Are their maids used to haymaking when at home, and do
they ‘pitch’ on the petticoats, and give three cheers and have beer
when they finish the work by chucking up the dress?

1883. Hawley Smart, Hard Lines, ch. xxvi. ‘But here, Cis, if you
mean business, take my advice and chuck that corps.’

1883. Miss Braddon, Phantom Fortune, ch. xxv. She knows on which
side her bread is buttered. Look how easily she chucked you up
because she did not think you good enough.

To get or give the chuck, phr.—To dismiss, or be dismissed, Cf., bag and sack.

1889. Sporting Times [quoted in Slang, Jargon, and Cant]. And I
shall get the blooming chuck as well as fourteen days.

Chuck up the sponge.—See Sponge.

To chuck [oneself] about or into, phr.—To move expeditiously. For synonyms, see Amputate and Skedaddle. Also, to fall into.

1860. Funny Fellow, 7 May, p. 1. Hollo, my kiddy, stir your stumps,
And chuck yourself about.

Chuck her up, phr. (cricket).—An expression of delight. [From the practice of throwing the ball into the air after a successful catch.]

[The verb, to chuck, is attached in an active sense to any number
of objectives, and may be taken as equivalent to ‘to perform’ or
‘do.’ Thus ‘to chuck a fag’ = to ‘give a beating’; to ‘chuck a
turd’ = to ‘rear,’ to evacuate; to ‘chuck a tread’ = to have
intercourse; to ‘chuck a jolly’ = to undertake a bout of chaff; to
‘chuck a fit’ = to have an epileptic, or apoplectic, seizure; to
‘chuck a cram’ or ‘a kid’ = to lie, etc.]

Hard-chuck (pigeon fanciers’).—A long distance; also a trying flight. From Gravesend to London is considered a hard-chuck, as the low, flat country is bare of landmarks.

Chuck a Curly, verbal phr. (military).—To feign sickness; to malinger. [For possible derivation, see general remarks on Chuck, in a preceding paragraph, + curly, ‘doubling up,’ or writhing, as in pain.]

Chuck a Jolly, verbal phr. (costermongers’).—To bear up or ‘bonnet’: as when a costermonger praises the inferior article his mate or partner is trying to sell. This process is usually commenced with a chi-ike (q.v.). Also to undertake a bout of chaff.

Chuck a Stall, verb phr. (thieves’).—To attract a person’s attention while a confederate picks his pockets, or otherwise robs him. [Stall = an accomplice; and as a verb, to keep watch or spy upon.]

1884. Greenwood, Seven Years’ Penal Servitude. I said to my pal
‘chuck me a stall and I’ll have that.’ What did I mean? Why, keep
close to me, and cover what I’m doing.

Chucked. To be chucked or chucked up, verbal phr. (thieves’).—1. To escape committal; to be acquitted or released.

1887. Horsley, Jottings from Jail, Rit from 7 dials; remanded
innocent on two charges of pokes, only out 2 weeks for a drag,
expects to be fullied or else chucked.

1889. Evening News [quoted in Slang, Jargon, and Cant, p. 251, col.
1]. When I was chucked up they took me to an old Jew’s in Dudley
Street for my clothes.

1889. Answers, 9 Feb. He was fortunate enough to get chucked, to
escape, that is to say, as the evidence against him was not strong
enough.

2. (common).—[Generally chucked out.] To be forcibly ejected. [From chuck, verb, sense 1, + ed + out.] Cf., Chucker-out.

3. (common).—Slightly intoxicated. For synonyms see Screwed.

1889. Ally Sloper’s Half-Holiday, Aug. 17, p. 258, col. 2. His back
being nearly broken from your constantly falling over him when
you’ve been chucked.

4. (prostitutes’).—Amorous; and hence ‘fast.’ French, galoper une femme = to make hot love to a woman. Cf., Molrower.

French Synonyms. S’allumer or allumer son pétrole or son gaz (the first of these terms is in general use, the others being employed chiefly by prostitutes); battre du beurre (popular: used more in the sense of ‘to be fast,’ but also = to speculate on ‘Change’ and to dissemble).

German Synonym. Spannen (to ogle prostitutes; to waylay women in order to make overtures; generally to lear with concupiscence).

Spanish Synonyms. Apacentar (properly to tend cattle); desbeber (also = to make water); despepitarse (literally to give a loose to one’s tongue or to act imprudently); rabanillo (m = an ardent longing).

5. (common).—To be disappointed; put out in one’s calculations; put to shame; ‘sold.’

c. 1879. Broadside Ballad. ‘Chucked again.’ Chucked again, chucked
again! Whatever may happen I get all the blame, Wherever I go, it
is always the same—Jolly well chucked again!

Chucked-In, adv. phr. (popular).—Into the bargain. Cf., Lagniappe. [From chuck, sense 1, + ed + in.]

1880. Punch, No. 2055, p. 245. Happy thought! chucked in an extra
chapter on Literature.

1884. Punch, Oct. 11. ‘’Arry at a Political Picnic.’ Went to one on
’em yesterday, Charlie; a regular old up and down lark. The Pallis
free gratis, mixed up with a old country fair in a park, And
Rosherville Gardens chucked in.

Chucker, subs. (cricketers’).—1. A volunteer who does not keep a promise to play.

2. A bowler who throws the ball.

Chucker-Out, subs. (colloquial).—A man retained to eject or ‘chuck out’ from public meetings, taverns, brothels, and hells.—See quot., 1880.

1880. Punch, No. 2040, p. 63. Lord Grey was about to resume his
rôle of chucker-out to the proposed measures of his own party.

1883. Saturday Review, March 31, p. 398, col. 1. We hired a smiling
but stalwart assistant to act in the capacity of chucker-out.

1884. Good Words, June, p. 400, col. 1. He had done twelve months
[in prison] for crippling for life the chucker-out of one of these
pubs. [m.]

1885. All the Year Round, Nov., 2226. Dens to which Brickey is
attached in the capacity of chucker-out. [m.]

1887. Guardian, 2 March, p. 343, col. 1. Bogus meetings, where the
chairman, committee, reporters, audience, and chuckers-out were all
subsidised. [m.]

1890. The Scots Observer, p. 394, col. 2. The result of which was
the resolution to appoint a body of Chuckers-out to keep delegates
in order, and to show the Commons what to do with its Healys and
its Tanners.

Chuck-Farthing, Chuck, Chuck-and-Toss, or Pitch-and-Toss, subs. phr. (common).—Games played with money, which is pitched at a line, gathered, shaken in the hands, and tossed up into the air so as to fall ‘heads and tails’ until the stakes are guessed away. A parish clerk was formerly nicknamed a chuck-farthing.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Chuck Farthing: a Parish Clerk (in
the Satyr against Hypocrites) also a Play among Boies.

1703. Ward, London Spy, pt. XIII., p. 317. Where Mumpers, Soldiers
and Ballad-Singers, were as busie at chuck-farthing and Hussle-Cap,
as so many Rooks at a gaming Ordinary.

1712. Spectator, No. 509. The unlucky boys with toys and balls were
whipped away by a beadle, I have seen this done indeed of late, but
then it has been only to chase the lads from chuck, that the beadle
might seize their copper.

1759. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, vol. I., ch. x. The spinning-wheel
forgot its round,—even chuck-farthing and shuffle-cap themselves
stood gaping till he had got out of sight.

1821. Clare, Vill. Minstr., I., 174. With chuck and marbles wearing
Sunday through.

1851. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, II., p. 398. They frequently
had halfpence given to them. They played also at chuck and toss
with the journeymen, and of course were stripped of every farthing.

c. 1868. Brough, Field of the Cloth of Gold. From pitch-and-toss to
manslaughter’s my game.

1878. M. E. Braddon, Cloven Foot, ch. xlii. ‘I remember when I was
a little chap, at Dr. Prossford’s grammar school, playing
chuck-farthing.’

1888. Illus. London News, Summer Number, p. 26, col. 1. Having
replaced the musty documents upon the shelf, that ingenious youth
adjourned to indulge in the passionately exhilarating game of
chuck-farthing.

Chuck In, verb (pugilistic).—To challenge.—[From the custom of throwing a hat into the ring; a modern version of throwing down the gauntlet. Also, ‘to compete’; e.g., I shall have a chuck in = ‘I shall try my luck’—with a woman, a raffle, a personal encounter, and so on.

Chucking-Out, subs. (popular).—Ejection. [From chuck, verb, sense 1, through chuck up (q.v.), + ing + out.] Also as an adj.

1881. Sportsman, Jan. 31, p. 3, col. 5. We were the first to take
the part of the pit against a chucking-out policy. [m.]

1887. Pall Mall Gaz., Feb. 23, p. 11, col. 1. Evictions in
Glenbeigh ... and chuckings-out in London. [m.]

1887. G. R. Sims, How the Poor Live, p. 83. It is fair to say that
the youths seemed quite ready for the emergency, and took their
chucking-out most skilfully.

Chucks! intj. (school).—A boy’s signal on a master’s approach. A French schoolboy’s equivalent is Vesse!

Chuck the Dummy, verbal phr. (thieves’).—To feign sickness, especially epilepsy; a common dodge in prisons to get an order for the infirmary.

Chuff It! intj. (common).—Be off! Take it away! For synonyms, see Hookey Walker!

Chul or Chull, verb (Anglo-Indian).—See quot.

1886. G. A. Sala, in Ill. L. News, June 19, p. 644. In Calcutta
chul is a word that you hear fifty times a day. A lady tells you
that her new Ayah will not chul at all; the proprietor of that
popular weekly journal, the Hooghly Dacoit ... tells you that he is
going home for six months; but that he has an able editor, and that
the paper will chul very well during his absence. The chul, I
apprehend, means to go on, to proceed, to do.

Chum, subs. (colloquial).—A close companion; a bosom friend; an intimate. Formerly a chamber-fellow or mate. [Johnson calls it a term used in the Universities, and the earliest quot. seems to bear him out. The derivation is uncertain, and Dr. Murray says ‘no historical proof connecting it with “chamber-fellow” or “chamber-mate” has been found.’]

1684. Creech, Theocritus, Idyll XII. Ded. to my chum, Mr. Hody of
Wadham College. [m.]

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Chum: a Chamber-fellow, or constant
Companion.

1714. Spectator, No. 617. Letter written by University man to a
friend begins ‘Dear Chum.’

c. 1750. Humours of the Fleet, quot. in Ashton’s Eighteenth Century
Waifs, p. 249. When you have a chum, you pay but fifteen pence per
week each.

1828–45. T. Hood, Poems, vol. II., p. 201 (ed. 1846). The very chum
that shared my cake Holds out so cold a hand to shake It makes me
shrink and sigh.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. v. The Colonel, as has been stated,
had an Indian chum or companion, with whom he shared his lodgings.

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, Nov. 21, p. 6, col. 2. His [Allingham’s]
own chosen friend was Dante Gabriel Rossetti, his chums the
Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood.

English Synonyms. Gossip; pal; pard (American); marrow (north-country); cully (theatrical); cummer; ben cull; butty; bo’ (nautical); mate or matey; ribstone; bloater.

French Synonyms. Une branche (literally a branch or bough); un amar or amarre (thieves’, Cf., amarre, a cable, rope, hawser); un aminche, aminchemar, or aminchemince (thieves’: aminche d’af = an accomplice or stallsman); amis comme cochons (popular, m. pl.: literally ‘as thick as pigs.’ Cf., as thick as thieves); un matelot; une coterie (popular); un bon attelage (cavalry = a couple of good friends; literally ‘a good team’); un artiste (popular); un camerluche or camarluche (popular); vieux frère la côte (sailors’); un camaro; une faridole (prostitutes’ = a female pal); un fanande, or fanandel (thieves’).

German Synonyms. Gleicher (also ‘a brother’); Kineh or Kinehbruder (Viennese thieves’: German thieves use Kinne; from the Hebrew Kinnim, ‘a louse’; Kinnemachler, literally ‘lice eater’ = a dirty, filthy fellow; also = a miser. Kinimer = a man full of lice).

Italian Synonyms. Furbo = ‘an imposter, rogue, or sharper’; foneo; calcagno; guido, or guidone (literally a ‘guide.’ Also a ‘dog’ or ‘beggar’).

Spanish Synonyms. Cirinco (m); compinche (m).

Portuguese Synonym. Filhos do Golpe (literally ‘children of the crowd’).

2. (military).—A brother-in-arms.

1890. Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales (3rd ed.), p. 264. Oh! where
would I be when my froat was dry? Oh! where would I be when the
bullets fly? Oh! where would I be when I came to die? Why,
Somewheres anigh my chum.

Verb, trs. and intrs. (colloquial).—To occupy a joint lodging, or share expenses; to be on the closest terms of intimacy with another; to be ‘thick as thieves’; or ‘thick as hops.’ French slang has être dans la chemise de quelqu’un; also être du dernier bien avec quelqu’un.

1730. Wesley, wks. (1872) XII., 20. There are ... some honest
fellows in College, who would be willing to chum in one of them.
[m.]

1762. Churchill, The Ghost, bk. II. Old Maids and Rakes are join’d
together. Coquettes and Prudes, like April weather, Wits forc’d to
chum with Common Sense.

1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers, p. 339 (ed. 1857). ‘Why I don’t
rightly know about to night,’ replied the stout turnkey. ‘You’ll be
chummed on somebody to-morrow, and then you’ll be all snug and
comfortable.’

1864. Temple Bar, Nov., p. 587. We choose our own carriages, and
either leave our fellow trippers altogether, or, making a
selection, chum in parties of three or four.

1871. Mortimer Collins, Mrq. and Merch., II., v., 143. She ...
found herself chummed upon a young person who turned out to be ...
a ... slattern. [m.]

1877. Besant and Rice, With Harp and Crown, ch. xii. Here are City
clerks, who, by chumming together, are able to afford one festive
evening in the week at the Oxford.

New Chum, subs. (Australian).—A new arrival in the colony; a ‘greenhorn’; or ‘tenderfoot.’ For general synonyms, see Snooker.

1861. Earles, Ups and Downs of Australian Life, p. 199. ‘I suppose
you’re a stranger, or as we calls ’em, a new chum, ain’t you?’

1886. E. Wakefield, Nineteenth Century, Aug., p. 173. In these
colonies [Australia], where pretty nearly every one has made
several sea voyages, that subject is strictly tabooed in all
rational society. To dilate upon it is to betray a new chum.

1889. Town and Country, 16 Feb. ‘Answers to Correspondents.’ New
Chum (Forbes):—The first instalment will be due, etc.

Chummage, subs. (old).—Money procured by the practice of chumming together; but various extensions of meaning appear to have been in vogue at different periods.—See quots. [The practice alluded to in quot. 1777, was the rough music made with pokers, tongs, sticks, and saucepans, for which ovation the initiated prisoner had to pay or ‘fork out’ a certain sum of money, or submit to being deprived of its equivalent from among his personal effects; otherwise called chumming up.]

1777. Howard, State of Prisons in England and Wales, quoted in J.
Ashton’s The Fleet, p. 295. A cruel custom obtains in most of our
Gaols, which is that of the prisoners demanding of a new comer
Garnish, Footing, or (as it is called in some London Gaols)
chummage.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Chummage: money paid by the richer
sort of prisoners in the Fleet and King’s Bench to the poorer for
their share of a room.... A prisoner who can pay for being alone,
chooses two poor chums, who for a stipulated price, called
chummage, give up their share of the room.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, xlii. The regular chummage is
two-and-sixpence.

1859. G. A. Sala, Twice Round the Clock (1861), 103. The
time-honoured system of chummage, or quartering two or more
collegians in one room, and allowing the richest to pay his
companions a stipulated sum to go out and find quarters elsewhere.

Also used as an adjective.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xlii., p. 364. You’ll have a chummage
ticket upon twenty-seven in the third, and them as is in the room
will be your chums.

Chummery, subs. (common).—Chumhood; also the quarters occupied by ‘chums.’ [From Chum + ery; cf., Rookery, snuggery, &c.].

1877. Besant and Rice, Son of Vulcan, p. 196. Jack and her father
lived in bachelor Chummery.

Chummy, subs. (colloquial).—1. A chimney-sweep’s climbing boy. [A corruption of ‘chimney’ through ‘chumley.’]

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 169. Vereas he ’ad been a
chummy—he begged the cheerman’s parding for using such a vulgar
hexpression, etc.

1844. Thackeray, Greenwich, wks. (1886) XXIII., 380. The hall ...
was decorated with banners and escutcheons of deceased chummies.
[m.]

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. II., p. 417. A
chummy (once a common name for the climbing-boy, being a corruption
of chimney).

1859. W. Gregory, Egypt, I.; 154. His shrill voice, high up aloft,
like a chummy’s on a London summer morn. [m.]

2. A diminutive form of chum (q.v.).

1864. Gilbert, Bab Ballads, Etiquette. Old chummies at the
Charterhouse were Robinson and he. [m.]

3. (common).—A low-crowned felt hat; For synonyms, see Golgotha.

Adj. (colloquial).—Very intimate; friendly; sociable. The analogous French terms are chouette; chouettard; chouettaud.

1884. Harper’s Magazine, Sept., p. 536 col. 2. I ... saw them form
into small chummy groups. [m.]

1888. W. Besant, Herr Paulus, bk. III, ch. xi., vol. III., p. 204.
I liked the fellow, I confess, and we got chummy in the evenings.

1889. Answers, May 11, p. 380. When I was at Pentonville, a man in
the same ward, who had got rather chummy with his warder, asked him
to post a letter to his friends in Manchester.

Chump, subs. (common).—1. A blockhead.

1883. Hawley Smart, At Fault, II., i., 29. Such a long-winded old
chump at telling a story one don’t often see, thank goodness.

1887. Pall Mall Gazette, 2 Feb., p. 10. col. 1. Frank audibly
remarked: ‘This man is a chump. I could go ... this minute and do
better than that.’ [m.]

2. (popular).—A variant of chum, subs. (q.v.). French ma vieille branche = my old chump.

1884. Punch, 11 Oct. ‘’Arry at a Political Picnic.’ All my Saturday
arfs are devoted to Politics. Fancy, old chump, Me doing the
sawdusty reglar, and follering swells on the stump.

3. (popular).—The head; especially in the phrase off one’s chump (q.v.). For synonyms, see Crumpet.

Chump-of-Wood, subs. phr. (rhyming slang).—No good. Also a blockhead.

Off one’s chump, phr. (vulgar).—Insane. Cf., Off one’s Head, nut, etc. For synonyms, see Apartments.

c. 1860. Broadside Ballad, ‘We are a merry family.’ The fire is
out, the fender’s broke, And father’s out on strike, Sister Ann’s
gone off her chump, In fact, we’re all alike.

1866. Broadside Ballad, ‘Oh, She Was Such a Beautiful Girl.’ She
diddled me, she fiddled me, She sent me off my chump.

1877. Besant and Rice, Son of Vulcan, II., xxiv., p. 377. ‘Master.’
he said, ‘have gone off his chump—that’s all.’

1883. Besant, Captain’s Room, ch. vii., p. 85 (1885). He ... was
engaged to be married to the king’s sister ... unfortunately, only
the week before I arrived, he was killed and devoured by a lion,
and the princess was gone off her royal chump.

To get one’s own chump, phr. (thieves’).—See quot.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 242. ‘Cut her own
grass! Good gracious, what is that?’ I asked. ‘Why, purvide her own
chump—earn her own living,’ the old man replied.

Chumpy, adj. (common).—The same as off one’s chump.

Chunk, subs. (colloquial).—1. A thick piece or lump of wood, bread, coal, etc.

1691. Ray, S. and E. Country Wds. (E.D.S.) Chuck, a great chip....
In other countries [= districts] they call it a chunk. [m.]

1787. Grose, Prov. Glossary, ‘Chuck.’ Chuck, a great chip, Suss. In
other counties called a chunk or junk.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. xxix. Why not keep a
clerk to read for you, and pay out the information in small chunks?
I should like to tackle Mr. Carlyle that way.

c. 1880. Broadside Ballad, ‘The Hungry Man from Clapham.’ He’d eat
everything there was in the place, He bit a chunk from his
mother-in-law’s face.

2. (streets’).—A school-board officer.

18(?). Thor Fredur, Sketches from Shady Places. Here they gambol
about like rabbits, until somebody raises the cry, ‘Nix! the chunk’
(the slang term for School Board officer).

Church, verb (thieves’).—To take out the works of a watch and substitute another set, so that identification is impossible.—See Christen, verb, sense 1.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3 ed., p. 445. To have the works of
a watch put into another case—To church a yack.

1868. Doran, Saints and Sinn., II., 290. The (thieves’) church
their yacks when they transpose the works of stolen watches to
prevent identification. [m.]

To talk church, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To talk ‘shop’ (q.v.).

1851. Newland, Erne, 217. Looking at those wretched people and
talking church. [m.]

Churchwarden, subs. (general).—A clay pipe with a long stem.—See quot., 1864, under Clay. The following are general variants.

English Synonyms. Alderman; steamer; yard of clay; clay.

French Synonyms. Une bouffarde; une Belge; une chiffarde (thieves’); une marseillaise; une gambier (pop. from a manufacturer’s name).

German Synonyms. Lülke (M.H.G. lullen or löllen = to suck; lülken, to smoke); Massel (Swabian: also = a street-walker; masseln = to smoke); Nagel; Pilmerstab (only in Zimmermann); Sarcherstock (from the Hebrew sorach, through särchen, to stink or to smoke. Sarcher, tobacco; Sarcherkippe or Sarchertiefe, tobacco-box; Sarcherhanjo, tobacco-pouch); Selcher (Viennese thieves’: from selchen, to smoke); Schmalfink.

1857. Hood, Pen and Pencil Pictures, p. 269. Give me my willow-tube
for a lance, the lid of a cigar-box for a shield. Thrust me a pair
of cutties into my girdle for pistols; hang a churchwarden by my
side for a sabre.

1863. Alex. Smith, Dreamthorpe, p. 262. He ... lifted a pipe of the
kind called churchwarden from the box on the ground, filled and
lighted it.

1864. Dr. Richardson, on ‘Tobacco,’ before Brit. Assoc. Meeting at
Bath. Cigars are more injurious than any form of pipe; and the best
pipe is unquestionably what is commonly called a churchwarden or
long clay.

Churl. To put a churl upon a gentleman.—See Gentleman.

Cider. All talk and no cider, phr. (American).—Purposeless loquacity; ‘Much cry and little wool.’ Literally, much ado about nothing. [For suggested derivation, see quot., 1871.]

1835–40. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xxi. It is
an expensive kind of honour that, bein’ Governor.... Great cry and
little wool! all talk and no cider.

1858. Notes and Queries, 2 S., v., 233. All talk and no cider. This
expression is applied to persons whose performances fall far short
of their promises.

1862. C. F. Browne, Artemus Ward: His Book, p. 135. What we want is
more cider and less talk.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 591. This phrase originated at a
party in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, which had assembled to drink a
barrel of superior cider; but politics being introduced, speeches
were made, and discussion ensued, till some malcontents withdrew on
the plea that it was a trap into which they had been lured,
politics and not pleasure being the purpose of the meeting, or, as
they called it, all talk and no cider.

Cider And, subs. phr. (colloquial).—Cider mixed with some other ingredient. Cf., Cold without, Hot with, etc.

1742. Fielding, Joseph Andrews, bk. I., ch. xvi. She then asked the
doctor and Mr. Barnabas what morning’s draught they chose, who
answered, they had a pot of cider-and at the fire.

Cig, subs. (common).—A cigar. [An abbreviation of the legitimate word.] For synonyms, see Weed.

Cinch, verb (American).—To get a grip on; to ‘corner’; to put the screw on; also, in the passive sense, to come out on the wrong side in speculations. [From the Spanish cincha, a belt or girdle; cinchar, to girdle. Properly used of the saddling of horses with the huge Mexican saddle. To cinch a horse, however, is by no means the same as girthing him. The two ends of the tough cordage which constitute the cinch terminate in long narrow strips of leather called latigos—thongs—which connect the cinches with the saddle, and are run through an iron ring and then tied by a series of complicated turns and knots known only to the craft.]

1875. Scribner’s Mag., July, p. 277. A man is cinched = he is hurt
in a mining transaction (San Francisco localism).

1881. New York Times, Dec. 18, quoted in Notes and Queries, 6 S.,
v. 65. Cinch. To subdue, to forcibly bind down and overcome. Thus
it is unfairly said that the Northern Pacific Company intends to
cinch the settlers by exacting large prices for its lands. Query,
from Latin cingere.

1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, 2 Feb. Black and Blue thinks the Dwyers
have a cinch on both the great events.

1888. New York World, 22 July. The bettor, of whom the pool-room
bookmaker stands in dread, however, is the racehorse owner, who has
a cinch bottled up for a particular race, and drops into the room
an hour or two before the races begin.

Cincinnati Olive, subs. (American).—A pig. [A spurious ‘olive oil’ is manufactured from lard, and Cincinnati is one of the largest centres of the ‘pork packing industry’ in America.] Cf., Cincinnati Oysters.

Cincinnati Oysters, subs. (American).—Pigs’ trotters. A curious interchange of names occurs between fish, flesh, and fowl. In Cincinnati Oysters we have flesh presented in the guise of fish; and the reverse is the case when the sturgeon is spoken of as Albany beef. Amongst other examples may be quoted marble-head turkey, for a codfish; also, in Nova Scotia a digby chicken = a herring smoked and dried in a peculiar fashion. In England a Billingsgate pheasant is a fresh herring; whilst a Yarmouth bloater is sometimes a two-eyed steak.

Cinder, subs. (common).—1. Any strong liquor as brandy, whiskey, sherry, etc., mixed with a weaker, as soda-water, lemonade, water, etc., to fortify it.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dictionary, s.v.

1883. Referee, March 18, p. 2, col. 4. Having rushed out to get a
glass of cold water with a cinder in it to take the chill off.

2. (sporting).—A running path or track; merely an abbreviation of ‘cinder-path,’ it being laid with ‘cinders.’

Cinder-Garbler, subs. (old).—A female servant. Grose [1785] says the term was ‘Custom House wit,’ but gives no particulars.

English Synonyms. Marchioness; slavey; cinder-grabber; cinderella; can (Scots); piss-kitchen; Julia.

French Synonyms. Un extrait de garni (popular); un chambrillon; une bobonne (for bonne); une larbine; une cambrouse; une jeanneton; une groule or groulasse.

German Synonyms. Schifche or Schifches; Schammesch or Schammes (from the Hebrew).

Spanish Synonym. Famula (f).

Circling-Boy, subs. (old).—A ‘rook’; swindler. Nares says a species of roarer; one who in some way drew a man into a snare, to cheat or rob him. See Gifford.—Ben Jonson, Barth. Fair, iv., 3, p. 481.

Circs, subs. (common).—Circumstances.

Circumbendibus, subs. (old).—A roundabout; a long-winded story. [From Lat. circum, around, + Eng. bend, with a Latin termination.]

1681. Dryden, Sp. Friar, V., ii. I shall fetch him back with a
circumbendibus, I warrant him. [m.]

1768. Lord Carlisle, in Jesse’s Selwyn, II., 317 (1882). I can
assure you it grieved me that anything of yours should make such a
circumbendibus before it came to my hands.

1773. O. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, Act v., Sc. 2. ‘And from
that, with a circumbendibus, I fairly lodged them in the horse-pond
at the bottom of the garden.’

1849. Lytton, Caxtons, pt. VIII., ch. i. The cabman, to swell his
fare, had thought proper to take a circumbendibus.

1890. Notes and Queries, 7 S., ix., 29 March.... No choice but to
deliver himself of a malediction with a circumbendibus.

Circumlocution Office, subs. (common).—A centre of red-tape; a roundabout way. [A term invented by Charles Dickens (see quot., 1857), and applied at first in ridicule to public offices, where everybody tries to shuffle off his responsibilities upon some one else.]

1857. C. Dickens, Little Dorrit, I., x. The Circumlocution Office
was the most important Department under Government. Ibid. Whatever
was required to be done, the Circumlocution Office was beforehand
with all the public departments in the art of perceiving—How not to
do it.

1870. Graphic, Feb. 19, in ‘By the Bye.’ To complete the
contretemps a portion of the telegraphs struck work on the very
first day of the Government taking them in hand. Of course the
great tribe of evil-wishers ran about chuckling, and rubbing their
hands gleefully. ‘I told you so,’ cried Rubasore. Circumlocution
Office again, sneered Crossgrain.

Circumslogdologize.—See Stockdollagize.

Circumstance. Not a circumstance, etc., phr. (American).—Not to be compared with; a trifle; of no account—unfavourable comparison.

18(?). J. H. Beadle, Western Wilds, p. 28. I took a broadhorn to
Noo Orleens, and when I was paid off on the levee, I was the worst
lost man you ever did see. In the middle of the thickest woods in
the world wasn’t a circumstance to it.

1848. J. R. Lowell, Biglow Papers. For Jacob warn’t a suckemstance
to Jeff at financierin’; He never’d thought of borryin’ from Esau
like all nater An’ then cornfiscatin’ all debts to sech a small
pertater.

To whip [something] into a circumstance = to surpass. Thus a newspaper correspondent writes that ‘the streets of Georgetown, Demerara, are broad, smooth, and well laid out. Georgetown could give points to New York in its roads, and whip it into a circumstance.’

Circus-Cuss, subs. (thieves’).—A circus-rider.

Citizen, subs. (thieves’).—A wedge for ‘prizing open’ safes, before the alderman (q.v.), and jemmy (q.v.).—See also Citizens’ friend.

Citizens’ Friend, subs. (thieves’).—A smaller wedge than the citizen (q.v.), for ‘prizing open’ safes. The order in which the tools are used is (1) Citizens’ Friend; (2) Citizen; (3) the Alderman (i.e., a Jemmy); and sometimes (4) a Lord Mayor. For synonyms, see Jemmy and Betty.

City College, subs. (thieves’).—Newgate. In New York = ‘The Tombs.’ For synonyms, see Cage.

City Stage, subs. (old).—The gallows, formerly in front of Newgate. For synonyms, see Nubbing Cheat.

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

Civil Reception.—See House of Civil Reception.

Civil-Rig, subs. (vagrants’).—A trick to obtain alms by a profuse show of civility and obsequiousness.

Civvies, subs. (military).—Civilians’ clothes, as opposed to regimentals. [A corruption of the legitimate word.]

Clack, subs. (colloquial).—1. Idle, loquacious talk; gossip; prattle—an exceedingly old usage. For synonyms, see Patter.

c. 1440. York, Myst. XXXIV., 211. Ther quenes vs comeres with her
clakke. [m.]

1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, in wks. V. 251. Their clacke or
gabbling to this purport.

1678. Butler, Hudibras, pt. III., ch. ii. And, with his everlasting
clack, Set all men’s ears upon the rack.

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. liv. I dreaded her unruly tongue,
and felt by anticipation the horrors of an eternal clack!

1812. H. and J. Smith, Rejected Addresses (‘Punch’s Apotheosis’).
See she twists her mutton fists like Molyneux or Beelzebub, And
t’other’s clack, who pats her back, is louder far than Bell’s
hubbub.

1888. J. Payn, Myst Mirbridge (Tauchn.) II., xviii., 197. The old
fellow would have had a clack with her. [m.]

2. (common).—The tongue [i.e., that which clacks (q.v.), verb.] A more ancient form was clap dating back to 1225.

English Synonyms. Glib; red-rag; clapper; dubber; velvet; jibb; quail-pipe.

French Synonyms. La diligence de Rome (popular); un battant (thieves’: also ‘heart,’ ‘stomach,’ and ‘throat’); un bon battant (‘a nimble tongue.’ Cf., ‘clapper’); une chiffe or un chiffon rouge (popular); une gaffe; le grelot.

German Synonym. Lecker (literally ‘the licker’).

Italian Synonyms. Serpentina; dannoso (literally ‘damagable’); zavarina (properly ‘a trifling old woman’).

Spanish Synonym. La desosada (i.e., Old Boneless).

1598. Greene, Jas. IV., wks. (Gros.) XIII., 210. Haud your clacks,
lads. [m.]

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Clack (s.) ... also a nickname
for a woman’s tongue; a prattler or busybody.

1828. D’Israeli, Chas. I., II., i., 23. Who, as washerwomen ... at
their work, could not hold their clack. [m.]

1864. E. Sargent, Peculiar, III., 76. To hermetically seal up this
Mrs. Gentry’s clack. [m.]

Verb.—To gabble. For synonyms, see Patter.

Clack-Box, subs. (common).—1. The mouth. For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

2. (common).—A chatterbox.

English Synonyms. A mouth almighty; poll parrot; babble-merchant; slammer.

French Synonyms. Un parlotteur (familiar); un dévideur or une dévideuse (popular: literally ‘a winder’); un bagoulard (popular: c’est un fameux bagoulard = he is the bloke to slam); un chambert: abuser du crachoir (said of a chatterbox who does too much with the ‘spitter’).

Spanish Synonyms. Hablatista (m; jocular); hablantin or hablanchin (m; colloquial); ladrador (m; properly ‘a barker’); prosador (m; properly ‘a sarcastic and malicious babbler’); gazetilla (f; ‘a farthing newspaper’); garlador; fuelle (m; properly ‘a pair of bellows’); ya escampa (it is importunate babbling; escampar signifies literally ‘to clean or clear out a place’); cotorrera (= a gossip; cotorreria = loquacity; a term specially applied to women); comadre (f; juéves de comadres = Cummers’ Thursday, the last before Shrove Tuesday); una chicharra (a prattler; chicharra = ‘a froth worm’ or ‘harvest fly’); charlantin.

Clack-Loft, subs. (popular).—A pulpit. [From clack, verb, + loft, an elevated room or place.] For synonyms, see Hum-box.

Claim, verb (thieves’).—To steal. (A locution similar in character to ‘annex,’ ‘convey,’ etc., and derived from a sense of the legitimate word signifying ‘to demand on the ground of right.’) For synonyms, see Prig.

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macmillan’s Mag., XL., 501. So I claimed
(stole) them.

To jump a claim, phr. (American and colonial).—To take forcible possession; to defraud; specifically to seize land which has been taken up and occupied by another settler, or squatter. The first occupant is, by squatter law and custom, entitled to the first claim on the land.—See Jump.

1846. E. H. Smith, Hist. of Black Hawk. When I hunted claims, I
went far and near, Resolved from all others to keep myself clear;
And if, through mistake, I jumped a man’s claim, As soon as I knew
it I jumped off again.

18(?). F. Marryat, Mountains and Molehills, p. 217. If a man jumped my claim, and encroached on my boundaries, and I didn’t knock him on the head with a pickaxe, I appealed to the crowd, and, my claim being carefully measured and found correct, the jumper would be ordered to confine himself to his own territory.

1883. R. L. Stevenson, The Silverado Squatters, p. 221. The claim
was jumped; a track of mountain-side, fifteen hundred feet long by
six hundred wide ... had passed from Ronalds to Hanson, and in the
passage changed its name from the ‘Mammoth’ to the ‘Calistoga.’

Clam, subs. (American).—1. A blockhead. Anglicé, ‘as stupid as an oyster.’ Shakspeare (Much Ado About Nothing, ii. 3) has ‘Love may transform me to an oyster; but I’ll take my oath on it, till he hath made an oyster of me, he shall never make me such a fool.’—See Chowder-headed; chowder is a favourite form of serving clams.

1871. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Sketches, I., 46. A fine stroke
of sarcasm, that, but it will be lost on such an intellectual clam
as you.

2. The mouth or lips. Also clam-shell. ‘Shut your clam-shell’ = ‘Shut your mouth.’ The padlock now used on the United States mail-bags is called the ‘Clam-shell padlock.’ For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, I., 143. Shet your clam, our David.

1848. J. R. Lowell, Biglow Papers, II., p. 19. You don’t feel much
like speakin’, When if you let your clam-shells gape, a quart of
tar will leak in.

1848. Bartlett, Dict. Americanisms. Shut up your clam-shells. Close
your lips together; be silent. Common along the shores of
Connecticut and Rhode Island, where clams abound. Same as ‘shut
your head.’

Clam-Butcher, subs. (American).—A man who opens clams; the attendant at an oyster bar is an ‘oyster-butcher.’

Clank, subs. (thieves’).—A pewter tankard; formerly a silver one.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue Clank: a silver tankard.

1837. Disraeli, Venetia, ch. xiv. Tip me the clank like a dimber
mort as you are.

Clanker, subs. (old).—1. A great lie.—Grose. Cf., Clinker. For synonyms, see Whopper.

2. (old).—Silver plate. Cf., Clank.

Clank Napper, subs. (old).—A thief whose speciality is silver-plate. [From clank, subs. + napper (q.v.), a thief.] For synonyms, see Thieves.

Clap (or Clapper), subs. (common).—1. The tongue. [From clap = chatter; a babbler’s tongue is said to be hung in the middle, and to sound with both ends.] For synonyms, see Clack.

a. 1225. Ancr. R., 72. Þeone kuðen heo neuere astunten hore cleppe.

1609. Dekker, Guls’ Horne-Booke, ch. vi. And to let that clapper
(your tongue) be tost so high, that all the house may ring of it.

1633. Massinger, New Way to Pay Old Debts, III., 2. Greedy. Sir
Giles, Sir Giles! Over. The great fiend, stop that clapper!

1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. VII., ch. xv. My landlady was in
such high mirth with her company that no clapper could be heard
there but her own.

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xix. I thought I should
have snorted right out two or three times ... to hear the critter
let her clapper run that fashion.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. vi. But old Murdoch was too
pleased at hearing his own clapper going, and too full of whiskey,
to find him out.

1878. John Payne, tr. Poems of Villon, p. 139. Enough was left me
(as warrant I will) To keep me from holding my clapper still, When
jargon that meant ‘You shall be hung’ They read to me from the
notary’s bill: Was it a time to hold my tongue?

2. (vulgar).—Gonorrhœa; once in polite use. [Origin uncertain; cf., Old Fr. clapoir, bosse, bubo, panus inguinis; clapoire, clapier, ‘lieu de débauche,’ ‘maladie q’on y attrape’]. For synonyms, see Ladies’ Fever.

1587. Myrr. Mag., Malin iii. Before they get the clap.

1706. Farquhar, The Recruiting Officer. Five hundred a year besides
guineas for claps.

1709. Swift, Adv. Relig. Works [1755] II., i. 99, s.v.

1738. Johnson, London, 114. They sing, they dance, clean shoes, or
cure a clap.

1881. In Syd. Soc. Lex.

Verb (vulgar).—To infect with clap; see subs. Also figuratively.

1658. Osborn, Jas. I. [1673], 514. Atropos clapt him, a Pox on the
Drab!

1680. Butler, Rem. [1759], I. 249. [They] had ne’er been clap’d
with a poetic itch.

1738. Laws of Chance. Pref. 9. It is hardly 1 to 10 ... that a
Town-Spark of that Age has not been clap’d.

Clapper-Dudgeon, subs. (old).—A whining beggar.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 26. These Palliards be called also
Clapper dogens, these go with patched clokes, and haue their morts
with them which they cal wiues.

1625. Jonson, Staple of News, II. Here he is, and with him—what? a
clapper-dudgeon! That’s a good sign, to have the beggar follow him
so near.

1705–7. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, vol. I., pt. V., p. 10. Says he,
there is an old curmudgeon, A hum-drum, preaching, clapperdudgeon.

1863. Sala, Capt. Dang., II., vii., 225. Rogues, Thieves ... and
Clapper-dudgeons ... infested the outskirts of the Old Palace. [m.]

Clap of Thunder, subs. phr. (old).—A glass of gin: a variant of Flash of Lightning (q.v.).

1821. P. Egan, Tom and Jerry [Ed. 1890], p. 79. I have not exactly
recovered from the severe effects of the repeated ‘flashes of
lightning’ and strong claps of thunder, with which I had to
encounter last night.

Clap-Shoulder, subs. (old).—A term applied to the officers of justice who laid their hands upon people’s shoulders when they arrested them. Cf., Catch-pole.

1630. Taylor, Workes. Clap-shoulder serjeants get the devill and
all, By begging and by bringing men in thrall.

Clapster, subs. (vulgar).—An habitual sufferer from gonorrhœa; by implication, one much and often in the way of getting clapped.

Claras, subs. (Stock Exchange).—Caledonian Railway Deferred and Ordinary Stock.

1887. Atkin, House Scraps. For we have our Sarahs and Claras. Our
Noras and Doras for fays.

Claret, subs. (pugilistic).—Blood, Variants are Badminton, Bordeaux, and Cochineal-dye. French le vermeil or le vermois.

1604. Dekker, Honest Whore, II., 45, wks. [1873]. This should be a
Coronation day: for my head runs claret lustily.

1819. Thomas Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 25.... This
being the first Royal Claret let flow, Since Tom took the Holy
Alliance in Tow, The uncorking produced much sensation about, As
bets had been flush on the first painted snout.

1878. Besant and Rice, By Celia’s Arbour, ch. xxxix. The lieutenant
picked him up, and placed him—because he declined to stand; and,
indeed, the claret was flowing freely—in the President’s arm chair.

To tap one’s Claret, phr.—To draw blood.

Claret Jug, subs. (pugilistic).—The nose. [From claret, blood, + jug, a receptacle.] For synonyms, see Conk.

1859. Punch, vol. XXXVII., p. 22. ‘A Chapter on Slang.’ A man’s
broken nose, is his claret-jug smashed.

Clarian, subs. (Cambridge University).—A member of Clare Hall, Cambridge; also a Greyhound (q.v.).

1889. C. Whibley, Cap and Gown. E’en stuke-struck Clarians strove
to stoop.

Class, subs. (athletic).—The highest quality or combination of highest qualities among athletes. He’s not class enough, i.e., not good enough. There’s a deal of class about him, i.e., a deal of quality. The term obtains to a certain extent among turfites.

1884. Referee, March 23, p. 1, col. 3. The elasticity necessary for
anything like class at sprinting departs comparatively early.

Claw, subs. (prison).—A lash of the cat-o’-nine-tails. Cf., Clawed-off, sense 1.

1876. Greenwood, A Night in a Work-house. Oh! cuss that old Kerr,
who condemned me to twenty-five claws with the cat.

Claws for Breakfast, subs. phr. (prison).—See quot.

1873. Greenwood, In Strange Company. A ruffian being uncertain as
to the morning when he is to have, as he himself would say, claws
for breakfast, is in the habit of lying night after night in a
sweat of terror.

Clawed-off, adv. phr. (old).—1. Severely beaten or whipped. Cf., Claw.

2. (old).—Venereally infected.

Claw-Hammer, subs. (Irish).—A dress coat. [From a supposed similarity in the cut of the tails to a claw hammer, one end of which is divided into two claws, for extracting nails from wood.] Also called steel-pen coat and swallow-tail. For synonyms of evening dress generally, see War-paint.

1863. Nathaniel Hawthorne, Passages from English Note-books, I.,
538. Sea-captains call a dress-coat a claw-hammer.

1883. Punch, July 21, p. 29, col. 2. An ‘Impressionist’ is not
impressive In a claw-hammer on a public platform.

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, Nov. 11, p. 7, col. 1. After the
claw-hammer crowd had been exhausted, he sent up an invitation to
the great army of unvarnished.

Clay, subs. (colloquial).—A clay pipe. Cf., Yard of clay, but for synonyms, see Churchwarden.

1859. Fairholt, Tobacco (1876), 173. Such long pipes were
reverently termed aldermen in the last age, and irreverently yards
of clay in the present one.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xxi., p. 223. ‘He is
churchwarden at home, and can’t smoke anything but a long clay.’

1866. London Miscellany, 19 May, p. 235, col. 2. Surely these men,
who win and lose fortunes with the stolidity of a mynheer smoking
his clay yard, must be of entirely different stuff from the rest of
us.

1871. Calverley, Verses and Tr. Ode Tobacco. Jones ... daily
absorbs a clay after his labours.

To moisten, soak, or wet one’s clay, verbal phr.—To drink. [Clay = the human body.]

1708. Brit Apollo, No. 80, 3, 1. We were moistening our clay.

1711. Addison, Spectator, No. 72, par. 9. To moisten their clay,
and grow immortal by drinking.

1731. Fielding, Letter Writers, Act ii., Sc. 2. A soph, he is
immortal, And never can decay; For how should he return to dust Who
daily wets his clay?

1790. Rhodes, Bombastes Furioso. Moistening our clay and puffing
off our cares.

1800. Morning Chronicle (in Whibley, p. 92). Cram not your attics
With dry mathematics, But moisten your clay with a bumper of wine.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xxxix., p. 345. Ever and anon
moistening his clay and his labours with a glass of claret.

1837. Barham, I. L. (The Monstre Baloon). And they’re feasting the
party, and soaking their clay, With Johannisberg, Rudesheimer,
Moselle, and Tokay.

1864. Lowell, Fireside Trav., 119. When his poor old clay was wet
with gin. [m.]

Clean, adj. and adv. (colloquial and expletive).—1. Entirely; altogether; e.g., clean gone, clean broke, etc. Employed by the best writers until a recent date, and scarce colloquial even now.

1888. W. E. Henley, A Book of Verses, ‘Ballade of a Toyokuni Colour
Print.’ Child, although I have forgotten clean, I know That in the
shade of Fuji-san, What time the cherry orchards blow, I loved you,
once, in old Japan.

1890. Mark Rutherford (‘Reuben Shapcott’), Miriam’s Schooling, p.
11. The memory of the battle by the hill Moreh is clean forgotten.

2. Expert; smart.

1878. Charles Hindley, Life and Times of James Catnach. The
cleanest angler on the pad, In daylight or the darky.

Clean-Out, verbal phr. (colloquial)—To exhaust; strip; ‘rack’; or ruin. Fr., se faire lessiver.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict. Cleaned out: said of a gambler who
has lost his last stake at play; also, of a flat who has been
stript of all his money.

1819. Thos. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 38. All
Lombard-street to ninepence on it, Bobby’s the boy would clean them
out!

1840. Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop, ch. xxix., p. 184. He never took
a dice-box in his hand, or held a card, but he was plucked,
pigeoned, and cleaned out completely.

c. 1880. Broadside Ballad, ‘When I was Prince of Paradise.’ I
introduced ‘loo’—in an hour or two, I’d cleaned all their pockets
right out.

Clean Potato, phr. (general).—The right thing. Of an action indiscreet or dishonest, it is said that ‘It’s not the clean potato.’

Clean Straw, subs. (Winchester College).—Clean sheets. [Before 1540 the beds were bundles of straw on a stone floor. At that date Dean Fleshmonger put in oaken floors, and provided proper beds, such as existed in 1871 in Third, and later in the case of the Præfect of Hall’s unused beds in Sixth. The term has never been used, as stated by Barrère, in reference to mattresses of any kind, straw or other.]

Clean Wheat. It’s the clean wheat, phr. (general). The best of its kind. For synonyms, see a1 and Fizzing.

Clear, adj. and adv. (old).—Thick with liquor. [Apparently on the principle lucus a non lucendo.]

1688. Shadwell, Sq. of Alsatia, I., iv. Yes, really I was clear;
for I do not remember what I did.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Clear: very Drunk.

1699. Vanbrugh, Relapse, IV., iii. I suppose you are clear—you’d
never play such a trick as this else.

1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. The cull is clear let’s bite him.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Verb.—See Clear Out.

Clear as Mud, adv. phr. (common) = Not particularly lucid.

Clear Crystal, subs. (popular).—White spirits, as gin and whisky, but extended to brandy and rum.

Clear Grit, subs.—1. (Canadian).—A member of the colonial Liberal party.

1884. Fortnightly Review, May, 592. There arose up [in Canada] a
political party of a Radical persuasion, who were called Clear
Grits, and the Clear Grits declared for the secularisation of the
Clergy Reserves.

2. (American).—The right sort; having no lack of spirit; unalloyed; decided.

1835–40. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. xxxii. I
used to think champagne no better nor mean cider ... but if you get
the clear grit there is no mistaking it.

1861. New York Tribune, 10 Oct. Nor do we think the matter much
mended by a clear grit Republican convention, putting one or two
Democrats at the foot of their tickets.

Clear out (or Clear off), verbal phr. (colloquial).—1. To depart.

1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, II., 151. Like many a hero before
him, he cleared out.

1861. Harper’s Monthly, August. You’ll have to clear out, and that
pretty quick or I’ll be after you with a sharp stick.

1885. Truth, 28 May, 1847. I would have the Canal under the control
of an International Commission ... and then I would clear out of
the country.

1888. J. Rickaby, Moral Philos., 205. To warn the visitor to clear
off.

2. (popular).—To rid of cash; to ruin; to ‘clean out.’

1849–50. Thackeray, Pendennis. The luck turned from that minute ...
came away cleared out, leaving that infernal check behind me.

1884. Illustrated London News, Christmas Number, p. 6, col. 2. He
cleared you out that night, old man.

Cleave, verb (old).—To be wanton; used of women. [Quoted by Grose, 1785.]

Cleft, subs. (common).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Clegg, subs. (Scots).—A horse-fly.

Clencher.—See Clincher.

Clergyman, subs. (common).—A chimney-sweep. [In allusion to the colour of ‘the cloth.’] Clergymen in their turn = ‘chimney sweeps.’

English Synonyms. Black draught; knuller; flue-faker; querier; chummy.

French Synonyms. Un artiste; Jean de la suie.

St. Nicholas’ clerk or clergyman (old).—A highwayman.

1589. R. Harvey, Pl. Perc., I. A quarrel, by the highway side,
between a brace of Saint Nicholas Clargie men. [m.]

1597. Shakspeare, King Henry IV., i. 1. Sirrah, if they meet not
with St. Nicholas’ clerks, I’ll give thee this neck.

Clerked, ppl. adj. (old). Imposed upon; ‘sold’ (q.v.).

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. The cull will not be clerked.

Clerks.—See St. Nicholas’ Clerk.

Clerk’s Blood, subs. (old).—Red ink. A common expression of Charles Lamb’s.

Clever Shins, phr. (school).—Sly to no purpose.

Cleymes, subs. (old).—Artificial sores, made by beggars to excite charity.

Click, subs. (pugilistic).—A blow. For synonyms, see Dig, bang and wipe. Also a hold in wrestling.

1819. T. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 18. Home-hits in the
bread-basket clicks in the gob. Ibid, p. 30.

1871. Daily Telegraph, 8 April. C. and W. Wrestling Society. The
various competitors struggled hard and put on all they knew in
‘hipes,’ ‘hanks,’ ‘clicks,’ ‘strokes,’ and ‘buttockings.’

Verb (old).—See quots., and Cf., Clicker.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Click (v.) ... or to stand at a
shop-door and invite customers in, as salesmen and shoemakers do.