Volume 2 — A · Dictionary · of Slang · and · its · Analogues. (continued 3)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1673. R. Head, Canting Acad., p. 36.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Chafed: well beaten.

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

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

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

For synonyms, see Gammon, sense 1.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1694. Congreve, Double Dealer, v., 17. I have so contriv’d that Mellefont will presently, in the chaplain’s habit, wait for Cynthia in your dressing-room; but I have put the change upon her, that she may be otherwise employed.

1821. Scott, Kenilwortht, ch. iii. You cannot put the change on me so easy as you think, for I have lived among the quick-stirring spirits of the age too long to swallow chaff for grain.

To ring the changes, phr. (common).—To change a better article for a worse. [An allusion to bell-ringing where it signifies to exhaust the combinations of a peal of bells.] In its slang sense to ring the changes chiefly refers to the passing of counterfeit money. As thus:—‘About five weeks ago, the prisoner went into a tobacconist’s shop in Cheapside, and purchased a cheroot, tendering a sovereign in payment. The prosecutor, Mr. Elkin, gave him the change, half-a-sovereign and 9s. 6d. silver. The prisoner said he did not want to distress him by taking away all his silver, and asked for another half sovereign. The prosecutor put down half-a-sovereign, which the prisoner took up, and the latter then said that if he returned the sovereign, he would give him back the change, and the prosecutor, taken off his guard, did so, and received the first half sovereign and the 9s. 6d. in silver, the prisoner walking out of the shop with the second half sovereign.’

1661. Hist. of Eng. Rebellion in Harl. Misc. (ed. Park), II., 528. Five months ago, our mighty States Were pleas’d to vote No King; But two months since, to act new cheats, Their votes the changes ring.

1760. Smollett, Sir L. Graves, vol. I., ch. x. Hugging in and ringing out the changes on the balance of power, the Protestant religion, and your allies on the Continent.

1828. Jon. Bee, Picture of London, p. 232. He found one piece [of muslin] that was indeed real India, bargained for and bought it, amidst continued attempts to shuffle it between others, for the purpose of ringing the changes, as they term the nefarious act.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 234. Nothing easier than for some man to have slipped out of bed, night or day, and rung the changes of the bottles.

1880. Hawley Smart, Social Sinners. ch. xli. The culprit had been guilty of ringing the changes or other petty larceny.

To take the change out of [a person or thing], phr. (common).—To be revenged upon; to take an equivalent, or quid pro quo. Frequently used interjectionally—Take your change out of that! with a blow or other rejoinder. An analogous expression is Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

1829. John Wilson, Noctes Amb., wks. II., 174. Shepherd (flinging a purse of gold on the table). It’ll require a gey strang thaw to melt that, chiels; sae. tak your change out o’ that, as Joseph [Hume] says, either in champagne, or jile … just whatsumever you like to devour best.

1838. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 2 S., ch. viii. ‘Thinks I to myself, take your change out o’ that, young man, will you?’

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. xi. If his ammunition be exhausted he betakes himself to the bayonet, and swears ‘the beggars may take your change out o’ that.’

1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. xlvi. Turn Lady Ascot once fairly to bay, you would (if you can forgive slang) get very little change out of her.

1863. H. Kingsley, Austin Elliott, I., 185. Cabman, log: ‘I never said nothink to you, but without provocation you tell me to go to Putney. Now, I tell you what it is, I’m blessed if I don’t go, and you may take your change out of that!’ And go he did. [Cf., ‘Go to Putney’ (q.v.).]

Quick change artiste, subs. (music hall).—A performer, male or female, who sings one song in one costume, retires for a few seconds and returns to sing another in another guise, and so on.

Change-Bags, subs. (Eton).—Grey flannel trousers for cricket, and knickerbockers for football.

Change One’s Note or Tune, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To pass from laughter to tears, or from arrogance to humility; to alter one’s mode of speech, behaviour, etc. Cf., Change your breath (q.v. under Breath).

1578. Scot. Poems, 16th c. (1808), II. 185. Priestes change your tune. [m.]

1708. Motteux, Rabelais, V., ix. I’ll make him change his note presently.

Change Your Breath.—See Breath.

Chant or Chaunt, subs. (old).—1. See quots.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dictionary. Chaunt: a song … To throw off a rum chaunt is to sing a good song.

1882. Daily Telegraph, 19 Oct., p. 5, col. 2. To troll his jovial chaunts … in a tavern-parlour. [m.]

2. (old).—See quots.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict. Chaunt: (a person’s) name, address, or designation; … a cipher, initials, or mark of any kind, on a piece of plate, linen, or other article; anything so marked is said to be chanted … an advertisement in a newspaper or handbill, etc.

1824. Compl. Hist. Murder Mr. Weare. 258. ‘We may as well look and see if there is any chaunt about the money’—and they examined the four notes, but there were no marks upon them. [m.]

Verb (old).—1. To talk; sing; relate the praises of; to ‘cry’ or ‘crack up.’ Street patterers and vendors chant their songs and wares, oftentimes to an extent not warranted by their quality: hence sense 2. An equivalent amongst French thieves is pousser la goualante.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., p. 240. A running patterer … who also occasionally chaunts.

2. (common).—To sell a horse by fraudulent representations. [Apparently an extended usage of sense 1—‘to cry’ or ‘crack up.’] Fr., enrosser = to dissemble a horse’s faults.

1816. Sporting Magazine, vol. XLIX., p. 305. A number of frauds have been practised lately in the disposal of horses … by a gang of … swindlers, who technically call it chaunting horses.

1825. English Spy, vol. I., pp. 199, 200. Here a church militant is seen Who’d rather fight than preach, I ween, Once major now a parson; With one leg in the grave he’ll laugh, Chant up a prad, or quaintly chaff To keep life’s pleasant farce on.

1860. Thackeray, Philip, ch. xx. You may as well say that horses are sold in heaven, which, as you know, are groomed, are doctored, are chanted on to the market, and warranted by dexterous horse-vendors as possessing every quality of blood, pace, temper, age.

Chanter (generally Horse-Chanter), subs. (common).—1. A horse-dealer who disposes of horses by means of fraudulent representations.

1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act. i., Sc. 6. Grooms, Jockies, and Chaunters, to Tattersall’s bring.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, xlii., 365. ‘He was a horse-chaunter: he’s a leg now.’

1845. W. M. Thackeray, Miscellanies, II. (‘Leg. of the Rhine’), p. 88. He is a cogger of dice, a chanter of horse-flesh.

1857. Dickens, Dorrit, bk. I., ch. xii., 88. The Plaintiff was a Chaunter—meaning, not a singer of anthems, but a seller of horses.

1884. Daily News, August 23, p. 5, col. 1. It is for the chanter and his attendant bonnet, who officiates as groom, to place the stock.

1890. W. E. Henley, Views and Reviews, p. 137. An apple woman to mystify, a horse-chanter to swindle, a pugilist to study, etc., etc.

2. (vagrants’).—A street patterer. More commonly spelt chaunter (q.v.).

3. (Scots).—The penis.

Chantey or Shanty, subs. (nautical).—A song sung by sailors at their work.—See Chantey-man. [Obviously a diminutive of chant, a song.]

1869. Chambers’ Journal, 11 Dec., pp. 794–6. [Article on ‘Sailors’ Shanties and Sea-Songs.’]

1883. W. Clark Russell, Sailors’ Language, preface, xi. But the lack of variety is no obstruction to the sailor’s poetical inspiration when he wants the ‘old man’ to know his private opinions without expressing them to his face, and so the same chantey, as the windlass or halliard chorus is called, furnishes the music to as many various indignant remonstrances as Jack can find injuries to sing about.

1884. W. C. Russell, Jack’s Courtship, ch. iii. ‘Then give us one of the old chanteys,’ exclaimed my uncle. ‘Haul the Bowline,’ or ‘Whiskey, Johnny.’

Chantey-Man, subs. (nautical).—A singer of Chanteys (q.v.).

1887. Saturday Review, 27 August. A shanty, or, as pedants call it, ‘chanty,’ is a song sung by sailors at their work. The music is ‘to a certain extent traditional,’ the words—which are commonly unfit for ears polite—are traditional likewise. The words and music are divided into two parts—the ‘shanty’ proper, which is delivered by a single voice, with or without a fiddle obligato, and the refrain and chorus, which are sung with much straining and tugging, and with peculiar breaks and strange and melancholy stresses, by a number of men engaged in the actual performance of some piece of bodily labour. The manner is this. We will suppose for instance, that what is wanted is an anchor song. The fugleman takes his stand, fiddle in hand, and strikes up the melody of ‘Away Down Rio.’ Then, everything being ready, he pipes out a single line of the song, and the working party, with a strong pull at the capstan-bars, answers with a long-drawn Away Down Rio. He sings a second verse, and this is followed by the full strength of the chorus.… And so on, through stave after stave, till the anchor’s weighed, and, the work being done, the need for song is gone by.

1890. W. E. Henley, Views and Reviews, p. 153. He goes down to the docks and loiters among the galiots and brigantines; he hears the melancholy song of the chantey-man.

Chantie, subs. (Scots).—A chamber-pot. For synonyms, see It.

Chanting (more commonly Horse-Chanting), verbal subs. (common).—1. Tricking into the purchase of unsound or vicious horses.

1825. English Spy, vol. I., pp. 199, 200. The servant was a confederate, and the whole affair nothing more than a true orthodox farce of horse-chaunting got up for the express purpose of raising a temporary supply.

1870–2. Gallery of Comicalities. If I have got an ’orse to sell, You’ll never find that Dick is wanting; There’s few that try it on so well, Or beat me at a bit of chaunting.

2. (vagrants’).—Street ballad-singing.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., p. 297. There is a class of ballads, which may with perfect propriety be called street ballads, as they are written by street authors for street singing (or chaunting) and street sale.

1883. Daily Telegraph, Feb. 8, p. 3, col. 1. ‘The bitterest sort of weather is their [cadgers’] weather, and it doesn’t matter if it’s house-to-house work or chanting, or mud-plunging, it’s cold work.’

Chapel or Chapel of Ease, subs. (common).—A water-closet. For synonyms, see Bury a Quaker and Mrs. Jones.

Chapel of Little Ease, subs. phr. (thieves’)—The police station or cells.

1871. Daily Telegraph, 27 Jan. [See short leader; also 25 Jan.]

1889. Answers, 9 Feb. A fourth kind of torture was a cell called little ease. It was of so small dimensions, and so constructed, that the prisoner could neither stand, walk, sit, nor lie in it at full length. He was compelled to draw himself up in a squatting posture, and so remain during several days.

Chapped or Chapt, ppl. adj. (old).—Parched; ‘dry’; thirsty. [From chap, to crack (as the lips) from want of moisture, + ed.]

1673. R. Head, Canting Acad., 37. Chap’d, Dry, or Thirsty.

1725. New Canting Dictionary, s.v.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Chapt: dry or thirsty.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Chappie or Chappy, subs. (familiar).—The latest (1890) variety of man about town; a term of intimacy. [From chap, a chum, + ie, a diminutive.] For synonyms, see Dandy.

1882. Punch, vol. LXXXII., p. 69, col. 1. I’ll sing you a fine new song, all about a fine young spark, Who’s a fine young London gentleman, quite up to any lark, Who takes supper very early, and breakfasts in the dark; Who’s a real ‘dear old chappie,’ as I needn’t perhaps remark.

1883. G. A. S[ala], in Illustr. London News, March 24, p. 290, col. 1. Lord Boodle, a rapid Chappie always ready to bet on everything with anybody.

Character, subs. (colloquial).—A man or woman exhibiting some prominent (and usually contemptible) trait; an eccentric; a case (q.v.). Generally used with such adjectives as ‘low,’ ‘queer,’ ‘comic,’ etc.—[From character = a personage in history or fiction: one who has distinguished him- or herself.] For synonyms, see Odd Fish.

1773. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, II., 1. A very impudent fellow this! but he’s a character, and I’ll humour him.

1820–33. C. Lamb, Essays of Elia, p. 163. You are fond of having a character at your table, and truly he is one.

Charactered, ppl. adj. (old).—Burnt on the hand; otherwise lettered (q.v.). [From the legitimate meaning of the word, = ‘marked or inscribed with characters.’]

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

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. They have palmed the character upon him.

Charing-Cross, subs. (rhyming slang).—A horse. For synonyms, see Prad.

Chariot, subs. (thieves’).—An omnibus. In the sixteenth century chariot = a vehicle of any kind, and in the eighteenth a light four-wheeled carriage. French thieves call an omnibus une omnicroche, or un four banal, which last = also a pocket or ‘cly.’

Chariot-Buzzing, subs. (thieves’).—Picking pockets in an omnibus. [From chariot (q.v.), an omnibus, + buz, verb 2 (q.v.), to pick pockets, + ing.] French thieves’ faire l’omnicroche.

Charles, His Friend, subs. (theatrical).—See Friend.

Charley or Charlie, subs. (old).—1. A night watchman. A popular name, prior to the introduction by Sir R. Peel, in 1829, of the present police force; since when it has fallen into desuetude. The Charlies were generally old men whose chief duty was crying the hour on their rounds. Boxing a Charley was a favourite amusement with young bucks and bloods, who, when they found a night-watchman asleep in his box, would overturn it, leaving the occupant to escape as best he might. [The origin of the term is uncertain. Some trace it to Charles I., who re-organised the watch system of the metropolis in 1640. If this be tenable it is curious that so long a period elapsed between the event and its recognition in slang. The earliest appears to be that given infra. For synonyms, see Beak and Copper.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dictionary. Charley: a watchman.

1823. Charles Westmacott, Points of Misery, p. 28. A regular chase between me and the Charleys all the way to Lad Lane.

1845. Hood, Tale of a Trumpet, st. 55. That other old woman, the parish Charley!

1852. Bentley’s Miscellany, 1 June, p. 620. Oh, those dear old Charlies of the Dogberry school! How their husky cries of the passing hour mingled with our dreams, letting us know that they were at least wide awake to the thievings of time!

1865. G. F. Berkeley, My Life, etc., I., 106. The night’s entertainment ending in the morning before a magistrate, when the roughly used Charleys, as the night-policemen were called, preferred charges of assault supported by black eyes and a few loose teeth carefully preserved for the purpose, and the offenders thought themselves lucky if they got off with only a moderate fine. [Temp. George IV.]

1889. Daily News, Sep. 28, p. 2, col. 5. The Last of the Charleys. In the person of Mr. William Mason, who died on Wednesday at the age of 89, we lose the last survivor of the Charleys who used to patrol the streets prior to the establishment in 1849 of the City Police Force.

2. (common).—A small, pointed beard, fashionable in the time of Charles I.; an ‘imperial’; in America a goatee (q.v. for synonyms).

1824. Gentleman’s Magazine, March 1, p. 295, col. 2. With white pantaloons, watch chains, and Wellingtons, and a Charley at their under lip.

1841. Hook, Widow, x., 145. He … wore … a Charley on his under lip.

1861. Taylor, Antiq. Falkland, 43. That square, short man … wearing a moustache and Charlie is William Laud.

18(?). R. M. Jephson, Girl He Left Behind Him, ch. i. Dolly himself was occupied in nursing a tuft of hair on his chin termed, grandiloquently, an imperial, familiarly, a Charley.

3. (hunting).—A fox. Fourbesque, graniera.

1857. Hughes, Tom Brown’s Schooldays, ch. i., p. 8. A nice little gorse or spinney where abideth poor Charley, having no other cover to which to betake himself for miles and miles, when pushed out some fine November morning by the old Berkshire.

1859. H. Kingsley, Geoffrey Hamlyn, ch. xxviii. ‘And all after a poor little fox!’ ‘You don’t know Charley, I can see,’ said Halbert; ‘poor little fox indeed.’

4. (American thieves’).—A watch. [Possibly a pun upon Charley, sense 1, a watch or watchman.] For synonyms, see Ticker.

5. (tailors’).—The nap on faced on glossy-surfaced cloth.

6. (tailors’).—A round-shouldered figure.

Charley Bates’ Farm, or Garden.—See Bates’ farm.

Charley-Lancaster, subs. (rhyming slang).—A ‘handkercher.’

Charley-Pitcher, subs. (thieves’).—A prowling sharper who entices greenhorns to take a hand in thimble-rigging, the three-card trick, prick the garter, etc.

1859. G. A. Sala, Twice Round the Clock (2 p.m., par. 10), p. 160. Even at remote country race-courses, you may find remnants of the whilom swarming tribe of Charley-pitchers, the knavish gentry who pursue the games of ‘under seven or over seven,’ … or inveigle the unwary with ‘three little thimbles and one small pea.’

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, IV., 32, note. A Charley-pitcher seems to be one who pitches to the Ceorla or countryman, and hence is equivalent to the term Yokel-hunter.

1877. Besant and Rice, Son of Vulcan, pt. I., ch. ix. With them marched the Charley-pitchers, who gained an honourable livelihood with the thimble and the pea.

Charley-Prescot, subs. (rhyming slang).—A waistcoat. For synonyms, see Fan.

Charley-Wag. To play the charley-wag (school-slang).—1. To absent oneself from school without leave; to play truant. Variants are To mouch; To wag; Fr., tailler or caler l’école; Spanish, hacer novillos, and andar á la tuna.

1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 57. Nothing could be done with him at school … Joe being, in spite of all entreaties, the greatest rapscallion and ringleader of all mischief, and at all times readier to play the charley Wag than to be the first in any prominent position in his class or form.

2. (common).—To disappear [figurative].

1887. W. E. Henley, Villon’s Straight Tip to all Cross Coves. It’s up the spout and Charley-wag With wipes and tickers and what not. Until the squeezer nips your scrag, Booze and the blowens cop the lot.

Charlie.—See Charley.

Charlies, subs. (popular).—1. The paps. For synonyms, see Dairy.

2. (Winchester College).—Thick gloves made of twine. [Introduced by a Mr. Charles Griffith; hence the name.] Obsolete.

Charm, subs. (old).—1. A picklock.

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

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1881. New York Slang Dict., s.v.

Charms, subs. (old).—The paps. Fr., les appas. Once in literary use, but now impossible except as slang. Flashing her Charms = showing her paps.

2. (American).—A generic term for money. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

1875. American English, in Cham. Journal, 25 Sept., p. 610. Money has forty or fifty different names; such singular terms as … shadscales, and charms figuring in the list.

Charter the Bar or Grocery, verbal phr. (American).—To buy up the whole of the liquor at a bar and stand drinks all round as long as it lasts. This freak is not infrequent in the West. In Australia a similar expression is shouting oneself hoarse. (q.v.).

18(?). J. G. Baldwin, David Bolus, Esq. Bolus was no niggard. He would as soon treat a regiment, or charter the grocery for the day, as any other way.

Chasing, verbal subs. (workmens’). See quot.

1884. Rae, Cont. Socialism, 361. This is shown … in their prohibition of chasing … i.e., of a workman exceeding a given average standard of production. [m.]

Chasse, verb (society).—To dismiss. [From the French chasser.]

1847. Thackeray, Lords and Liv., III. He was chassÉd on the spot. [m.]

1868. Yates, Rock Ahead, I., p. 185. If Lord Ticehurst married, more than half Gilbert Lloyd’s influence would be gone, if indeed the turf were not abandoned, and the confederate chassÉd.

Chat, subs. (thieves’).—1. A house. For synonyms, see Diggings.

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., XL., 501. I piped a slavey (servant) come out of a chat (house).

2. (common).—The female pudendum. [From French chat, a cat, and by implication the ‘pussy.’]

3. (common).—The truth; the real state of a case; the proper words to use; the ‘correct card.’

1819. Thomas Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 6. And, setting in case there should come such a rumpus, As some mode of settling the chat we must compass, With which the tag-rag will have nothing to do, What think you, great swells, of a royal set-to?

1862. Trollope, Orley Farm, ch. vi. Has the gentleman any right to be in this room at all, or has he not? Is he commercial, or is he—miscellaneous? That’s the chat as I take it.

4. (low).—Gabble; chatter; impudence; e.g., None of your chat, or I’ll give you a shove in the eye.

Verb.—To hang.—See Chates, sense 1. [This reading, however, is problematical.]

1513. G. Douglas, Æneis, viii., Prol. 126. Quod. I, churle, ga chat the, and chide with ane vthir.

Chates, subs. (old).—1. The gallows, (Also Chattes and Chats.) [Doubtful as to derivation, see quot. 1610.] For synonyms, see Nubbing-cheat.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 66. Chattes: the gallowes.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37, (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). Chates, the Gallowes: here he [Harman, author of a Caveat for Cursitors-date, c. 1570, reprinted as The Belman of London, containing list of cant words] mistakes both the simple word, because he so found it printed, not knowing the true originall thereof, and also in the compound; as for Chates it should be Cheates, which word is vsed generally for things, as Tip me that Cheate, Give me that thing: so that if you will make a word for the Gallous, you must put thereto this word, Treyning, which signifies hanging; and so Treyning Cheate is as much to say, hanging things, or the Gallous, and not Chates.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 48 (1874). Chats: the gallows.

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

1706. E. Coles, Eng. Dict., s.v.

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

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

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1881. New York Slang Dict., s.v.

2. (old).—Lice. (Also chats and chatts.) [Grose suggests that chatts is an abbreviation of chattels in the sense of cattle—lice being the chief live-stock of beggars, gipsies, and the rest of the canting crew; the history of the word ‘chattel’ appears to bear out his contention. The Norman catel passed later into cattell, and these forms were in the sixteenth century restricted to live-stock, chattell passing from legal French into general use for the wider sense—article of property.]

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

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

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v.

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

English Synonyms. Active citizens; crabs; crumbs; friends in need; back friends; grey backs; black cattle; Scots Greys; gentleman’s companions; creepers; gold-backed ’uns; German ducks; dicky-birds; familiars; saddle-backs; Yorkshire Greys.

French Synonyms. Les espagnols (popular: formerly lice were called ‘Spanish bugs,’ poux espagnols, to distinguish them from the cimex lectuarius, or common bed bug); un coquillon (popular: also ‘a pilgrim’); les goux (thieves’); le garnison (pop. = garrison); un loupate (= poux, disguised); un habitant (= a householder or ‘citizen’); un grenadier (popular); un got (thieves’); un mousquetaire gris (pop. = a grey musketeer).

German Synonyms. Huttererg’ sell’n (perhaps the nearest German equivalent to the English ‘gentleman’s companion,’ the German word signifying ‘skin-society’); Jokel, or Jokelche, Jokelcher, Juckel, Juckeler (sing.: also = a postillion, ‘one who rides,’ the latter, however, being more commonly rendered Post-Juckel. Ave-Lallement derives it from Jäckel or Jockel, diminutives of Jacob, but there are the German words, Jucken, ‘to itch,’ and Juckler, ‘one who itches.’ It is quite possible that the two last are later, historically. In connection, see next example); Hans Walter (in Luther’s Liber Vagatorum [1529]. Hanz literally means Jack, or John [Cf., preceding Jokel], the old word Hansa refers to a multitude; old German Hanse, a society; Hans, a companion); Kinne, pl. Kinnim (of purely Hebrew origin; Kinnimachler = a ‘dirty, filthy fellow,’ or ‘an avaricious man,’ literally ‘a lice-eater’; Kinnimer, a man full of lice. The Fieselsprache has Kineh and Kinehbruder to signify ‘an intimate companion,’ or ‘chum’; Marschirer or die stillen Marschirer (Viennese thieves’ for lice; literally ‘the silent walkers’); Sand (used for vermin in general and lice in particular; sandig sein, to be lousy).

Italian Synonyms. Grisaldi; grisanti; guallino.

Spanish Synonym. Cancano, (m; a low term).

Chat-Hole, subs. (prison).—A hole made by convicts in a wall, to carry on a conversation. [From chat, an abbreviation of chatter, + hole.]

Chats, subs. (old).—1. See Chates.

2. (thieves’).—See quot.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, Glossary, p. 171. Chats, seals.

3. (Stock Exchange).—London, Chatham and Dover Railway Stock.

Chatter-Basket, subs. (common).—A prattling child. Originally dialectical, chatter-basket being the Lancashire form; while in West Somerset they say chatter-bag. Cf., Chatterbox.

Chatter-bones, Chatter-cart, and Chatter-bladder, subs. (common).—Variants of chatterbox (q.v.). For synonyms, see Clack-box.

1842. Dickens, American Notes, ch. xi., p. 94. That little girl of fifteen with the loquacious chin: who, to do her justice, acts up to it … for of all the small chatterbones that ever invaded the repose of drowsy ladies’ cabin, she is the first and foremost.

Chatterbox, subs. (colloquial).—An incessant talker; used contemptuously of adults and playfully of children. [From chatter, gabble + box, a receptacle; metaphorically, a box full of chatter. Cf., Bag of bones.] A variant is chatterbones (q.v.). For synonyms, see Clack-box.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Chatter Box, one whose tongue runs twelve score to the dozen; a chattering man or woman.

1840. C. Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop [C. D. ed.], p. 93. A set of idle chatterboxes.

1878. E. Jenkins, Haverholme, p. 52. A mere political chatterbox.

Chatter-Broth, subs. (old).—Tea; the beverage and the party. A Yorkshire equivalent is chatter-water. Quoted by Grose [1785]. Variants are cat-lap and scandal-broth (q.v.).

Chatterer, subs. (pugilistic).—A heavy blow upon the mouth; or, says Peter Corcoran, ‘a blow that tells.’ For synonyms see Dig.

1827. Reynolds (‘Peter Corcoran’), Sonnet on The Fancy. I’ve left the Fives-Court rush,—the flash—the rally. The noise of ‘Go it, Jack’—the stop—the blow—The shout—the chattering hit—the check—the sally.

Chatterers, subs. (common).—The teeth. For synonyms, see Grinders.

Chattery, subs. (thieves’).—See quot.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, Glossary, p. 171. Chattery, cotton, or linen goods.

Chatty, subs. (old).—A filthy man. [From chat (q.v.), a louse, + y.] English variants are chatty-dosser, crummy-dosser. Amongst French equivalents may be mentioned un bifteck à maquart (Maquart is the name of a well-known knacker); un sale pâtissier (literally a dirty pastry-cook); un kroumir; un gorgniat; un pégocier.

Adj. (common).—Filthy; lousy. [For derivation, see subs.] A French equivalent is graphiqué—itself a very ‘telling,’ ‘speaking,’ or ‘chatty’ expression; also malastiqué.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dictionary. Chatty: lousy.

Chatty-Feeder, subs. (old).—A spoon. [A vague reference to the mouth as the place of ‘chat’ or ‘chatter.’] For synonyms see Wedge-feeder.

1881. New York Slang Dictionary. ‘And where the swag so bleakly pinched, A hundred stretches hence?… The chips, the fawneys, chatty-feeders.’

Chaunt, subs. (old).—A song.—See Chant, subs., sense 1.

Verb (vagrants’).—To sing ballads, etc., in the streets.—See Chant, verb, sense 1.

To Chaunt the play, verbal phr. (thieves’).—To explain the tricks and manœuvres of thieves.

Chaunted, ppl. adj. (streets’).—Sung of, and celebrated, in street ballads. [From chaunt, to sing street ballads, + ed.]—See Chanting, subs., sense 2.

1827. Reynolds (‘Peter Corcoran’). Lines to Philip Samson in The Fancy. ‘Be content that you’ve beat Dolly Smith, and been chaunted, And trained—stripped—and petted, and hit off your legs!’

Chaunter, subs. (vagrants’).—1. A street singer of ballads, dying speeches, etc. Rarely heard now except in the poorest neighbourhoods. His practice is peculiar. One man gets as far as he can, and when his voice cracks his companion takes things up. For this reason the business is conducted by a brace of men, by a man and woman, or by a woman and child.—See quot. 1851. [From chaunt, to sing, + er.] Also called a paper-worker (q.v.); and Death-hunter (q.v.). French Synonyms are un chanteur à la balade or au baladage; un goualeur or une goualeuse (see Eugene Sue Mystères de Paris); une cigale (popular: a female street-singer); and un braillard. Fourbesque, granchetto (a term also applied to one who speaks gibberish or thieves’ lingo).

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 229. The chaunters, or those who do not cry, but (if one may so far stretch the English language) sing the contents of the ‘papers’ they vend. Ibid, p. 240. The running patterer … is accompanied generally by a chaunter.… The chaunter not only sings, but fiddles.

2. (common).—See Chanter, sense 1.

Chaunter-Cove, subs. (thieves’).—A reporter. [From chaunt, to ‘crack’ or ‘cry up,’ + er + cove, a man.]

Chaunter-Cull, subs. (old).—A writer of ballads and street literature for the use of chaunters or ‘street patterers.’ They haunted certain well-known public-houses in London and Birmingham, and were open to write ballads ‘to order’ on any subject, the rate of remuneration varying from half-a-crown to seven-and-sixpence. The chaunter having practically disappeared, his poet has gone with him.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 58. [Named and described in.]

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Chaunter-culls: Grub Street writers, who compose songs, carrols, etc., for ballad singers.

1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. IV., ch. vi. I trust, whenever the chanter-culls and last-speech scribblers get hold of me, they’ll at least put no cursed nonsense into my mouth.

Chaunter upon the Leer, phr. (old).—An advertiser.

Chaunting.—See Chanting.

Chauvering Donna or Moll, subs. (old).—A prostitute. [From chauvering, sexual intercourse. + donna (q.v.), a woman, or moll (q.v.), a loose female.] For synonyms, see Barrack-hack.

Chaw, subs. (common).—1. A countryman; a yokel; a bumpkin. [A contraction of chaw-bacon (q.v.). In common use at Harrow School.]

1856. T. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, pt. I., ch. i. There’s nothing like the old country-side for me, and no music like the twang of the real old Saxon tongue, as one gets it fresh from the veritable chaw in the White Horse Vale.

2. (vulgar).—A mouthful; a ‘gobbet’; in the mouth at once; e.g., a quid of tobacco; a dram of spirits, etc. [From chaw, verb, q.v.]

1749. ‘Humours of the Fleet,’ quoted in Ashton’s The Fleet, p. 286. And in his nether jaw Was stuff’d an elemosynary chaw.

1772. Gentleman’s Magazine, XLII., 191. The tars … Took their chaws, hitched their trousers, and grinn’d in our faces. [m.]

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, xiv. The boy was made to open his mouth, while the chaw of tobacco was extracted.

1838. Glascock, Land Sharks and Sea Gulls, II., 123. ‘I’m blest if I’m fit for work, ’thout a raw chaw.’

1864. Daily Telegraph, 26 July. The gentleman have often ‘that within that passeth show,’ to wit, a chaw of tobacco: this is not very conducive to volubility in conversation.

3. (University).—A trick; device; or ‘sell.’

Verb (vulgar).—1. To eat or chew noisily and roughly. To bite (see quot., 1890). Once literary; now degenerate, and vulgarly applied; specifically ‘to chew tobacco.’

1890. The Oont, Rudyard Kipling in Scots Observer, … We socks him with a stretcher-pole, and ’eads him off in front, And when we saves his bloomin’ life, he chaws our bloomin’ arm.

2. (University).—To deceive, trick, ‘sell,’ or impose upon one.

To chaw over, verbal phr. (common).—To create ridicule by repeating one’s words.

To chaw up, phr. (American).—To get the better of; to demolish; ‘do for’; smash or finish. Chawed up: utterly done for.

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xvi., p. 162, ‘Here’s full particulars of the patriotic loco-foco movement yesterday, in which the Whigs was so chawed up.’

1862. C. F. Browne, Artemus Ward: His Book, p. 66. We chawed ’em up, that’s what we did.

To chaw up one’s words, phr. (American).—To retract an assertion; ‘to eat one’s words.’

Chaw-Bacon, subs. (colloquial).—A country bumpkin. [From chaw, a vulgar form of chew, to masticate or chew, + bacon, the staple food of agricultural labourers.] Other nicknames for a countryman are bacon-slicer; clod-hopper; barn-door savage; clod-pole; cart-horse; Johnny; cabbage-gelder; turnip-sucker; joskin; jolterhead; yokel; clod-crusher, etc.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Chaw Bacon. A countryman. A stupid fellow.

1822. Blackwood’s Magazine, XII., 379. You live cheap with chaw-bacons and see a fine, flat country. [m.]

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. v. ‘Give me the pail, you lop-eared buffoon—do you call that the way to feed a pig?’ and the General, seizing the bucket from an astonished chaw-bacon, who stood aghast, as if he thought his master was mad, managed to spill the greater part of the contents over his own person and gaiters.

Chaws, subs. (venery).—Copulation. For synonyms, see Greens.

Cheap. On the cheap, adv. phr. (colloquial).—At a low rate [of money]; economically; keeping up a showy appearance on small means.

1884. Cornhill Mag., June, p. 614. His being’s end and aim, both by day and night, is to obtain as much drink as possible on the cheap.

Cheap and nasty, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Said of articles which, though pleasing to the eye, are ‘shoddy’ in fact. For special application, see quot.

1864. Athenæum, Oct. 29. Cheap and nasty, or, in a local form, ‘cheap and nasty, like Short’s in the Strand,’ a proverb applied to the deceased founder of cheap dinners.

To feel cheap, verb. phr. (common).—To ‘have a mouth on;’ to be suffering from a night’s debauch.

Dirt cheap or dog cheap, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Inexpensive; as cheap as may be. Dog cheap is the earliest form in which this colloquialism appears in English literature, dirt cheap not being found earlier than 1837.

1577. Holinshed, Chron. Descr. Irel., iii. They afourded their wares so dogge cheape, that etc. [m.]

1837. C. Dickens, Oliver Twist, xxxvii. ‘I sold myself,’ said Mr. Bumble … ‘I went very reasonable. Cheap, dirt cheap!’

Cheapside. He came home by way of cheapside, phr. (old).—That is ‘he gave little or nothing for it’; ‘he got it cheap.’

Cheat, subs. (old).—A general name for any object. [From Anglo-Saxon ceat, a thing. Cf., quot., 1608.] A term which, with a descriptive adjective, appears in a variety of forms in Old Cant. The cheat par excellence was the gallows, also known as the nubbing, topping, or treyning-cheat. The word is variously spelt—chet, chete, cheate, cheit, chate, cheat. The following combinations will serve to illustrate its use.

Belly-chete = An Apron.

Bleting-chete = A sheep or calf.

Cackling-chete = A fowl.

Crashing-cheats = The teeth.

Grunting-chete = A pig.

Hearing-chetes = The ears.

Low’ing-chete = A cow.

Lullaby-chete = An infant.

Mofling-chete = A napkin.

Nubbing-cheat = The gallows.

Prattling-chete = The tongue.

Quacking-chete = A duck.

Smelling-chete = The nose.

Topping-cheat = The gallows.

Treyning-cheat = The gallows.

Trundling-cheat = A cart or coach.

All of which see.

1567. Harman, Caveat [ed. 1869], p. 86. Now we have well bous’d, let vs strike some chete [that is], now we have well dronke, let us steale some thinge.

1608. Dekker, Belman of London, in wks. (Grosart) III., 117. The Cheating Law or the Art of winning money by false dyce. Those that practise this studie call themselues Cheators, the dyce Cheaters, and the money which they purchase Cheates: borrowing the tearme from our common Lawyers, with whome all casuals as fall to the Lord at the holding of his Leetes, as Waifes, Strayes, and such like, are said to be Escheated to the Lord’s use, and are called Cheates.

1611. Shakspeare, Winter’s Tale, iv., 2, 28. With dye and drab, I purchas’d this Caparison, and my Reuennew is the silly Cheate. Gallowes, and Knocke, are too powerfull on the Highway.

1754. Fielding, Jonathan Wild, bk. IV., ch. ii. See what your laziness is come to; to the cheat, for thither will you go now, that’s infallible.

Cheats, subs. (old).—Sham cuffs or wristbands. Cf., Dicky and Shams.—See also quot., 1688.

1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III., p. 96, col. 1. A … kind of Waistcoats are called Chates, because they are to be seen rich and gaudy before, when all the back part is no such thing. Ibid, III., p. 258, col. 1. Such Gallants weare not Cheats or half Sleeves, but … their Waistcoats are the same clear throughout. [m.]

1690. B. E., Dictionary Canting Crew. Cheats … also Wristbands or sham Sleeves worn for true, or whole ones.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Sham sleeves to put over a dirty shift or shirt.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum.

Checks, subs. (American).—Money in general; cash. [A term derived from poker, in which game counters or checks, bought at certain fixed rates, are equivalent to current coin.] For synonyms, see Actual and Cf., Chips.

To pass or hand in one’s checks, phr. (American).—See ante, To cash (or pass in) one’s checks. To die. For synonyms, see Aloft and Cf., Chips.

Cheek, subs. (colloquial).—1. Insolence; jaw; e.g., ‘none of your cheek’ or ‘chat’ and ‘none of your jaw.’ Equivalents are lip, chat, imperance, mouth, chin, chirrup, and nine shillings; the last a corruption of ‘nonchalance!’ Among foreign equivalents may be mentioned the French avoir un toupet de bœuf; and the Spanish adjectives cariraido (‘impudent’) and desollado (from desollar, ‘to skin, flay’); desuellacaras (m.; an impudent, shameless person); paparrucha (f. impertinence).

1840. Marryat, Poor Jack, xxii. The man, who was a sulky, saucy sort of chap … gives cheek.

1848. J. Mitchell, Jail Jrnl., July 20. I once asked … what fault a man had committed who was flogged.… ‘For giving cheek, sir.’ [m.]

1884. G. Moore, Mummer’s Wife (1887), p. 133. If he gives me any of his cheek I’ll knock him down.

2. Audacity; confidence; impudence; ‘brass’; ‘face.’ Formerly ‘brow’ was used in the same sense.—(See quot., 1642.)

1642. Fuller, Holy State, bk. IV., ch. xi. They were men of more brow than brain, being so ambitious to be known, that they had rather be hissed down than not come upon the stage.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., p. 471. They [the Crocusses] ’d actually have the cheek to put a blister on a cork leg. Ibid, p. 404 (provided with) a noggin o’ rum to ‘give him cheek,’ and make him speak up to his victims.

1882. Daily News, Oct. 10, p. 5, col. 6. Of this fact, I know no more signal instance than the seizing of the Citadel of Cairo. As I stood on the spot the other day I realised for the first time the—if you will pardon me the use of a vulgar but expressive colloquialism—astounding cheek of the feat.

1889. Answers, p. 59, col. 2. The whole suggestion savoured so much of what our Transatlantic brothers call monumental cheek, that the Duke hardly knew what to say, or what emotions to express.

1890. Athenæum, Feb. 22, p. 253, col. 2. In various disguises Miss Palmer sings, dances, and exhibits her powers of coquetry and cheek.

Verb.—To address a person saucily.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., p. 452. (They) persuaded me to go and beg with them, but I couldn’t cheek it.

1857. Dickens, Our Vestry, in Reprinted Pieces, p. 292. Dogginson … informed another gentleman … that if he cheek’d him he would resort to the extreme measure of knocking his blessed head off.

1890. Saturday Review, Feb. 1, p. 151, col. 1. Not only was Dick always ready to cheek his employer, and by his own account usually capable of getting the better of him, but he was on the same sort of terms with his pupils.

To one’s own cheek, phr. (colloquial).—To one’s own share; all to oneself. Sometimes used in the sense of allowance, i.e., ‘Where’s my cheek?’

1841. Lever, Charles O’Malley, ch. lxxxviii. And though he consumed something like a prize on to his own cheek, he at length had to call for cheese.

1855. Punch, vol. XXVIII., p. 10. [From day to day, for near a week,] ‘I had a boiled salt round of beef On Monday all to my own cheek Whereon my hunger sought relief.’

To cheek up, verbal phr. (colloquial).— = cheek, to answer saucily.—See Cheek verb.

1867. North Briton, June 5. ‘Royal Dramatic College.’ We shall not soon forget seeing, during our visit to the Fair last July, a number of ladies dressed up as jockeys, confined, like so many chattering monkeys, in a cage, cheeking up to gentlemen, selling them ‘k’rect cards,’ etc.

Cheek-Ache. To have the cheek-ache, phr. (common).—To be made to blush; to be abashed. [From cheek, the face, + ache, a metaphorical exaggeration of the pain of blushing.]

Cheekiness, subs. (colloquial).—Impudence; effrontery; cool audacity.

1847. Illustrated London News, 28 Aug. p. 142, col. 1. They were beat … by their slow, loggy stroke, and by their cheekiness. [m.]

1854. Martin and Aytoun, Bon Gualtier Ballads, ‘Francesca da Rimini.’ There’s wont to be at conscious times like these. An affectation of a bright-eyed ease,—A crispy-cheekiness, if so I dare, Describe the swaling of a jaunty air.

1857. A. Trollope, Three Clerks, ch. xliv. He lived but on the cheekiness of his gait and habits; he had become member of Parliament, Government official, railway director, and club aristocrat, merely by dint of cheek.

Cheekish, adj. (colloquial).—Audacious; impudent; saucy. [From cheek + ish.]

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., p. 248. Being cheekish (saucy) to the beadle.

Cheeks, subs. (old).—1. The posteriors. For synonyms, see Blind-cheeks: to which may be added toby; stern; catastrophe; latter-end; jacksy-pardo; and juff.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulgar Tongue.

2. (old).—An accomplice.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3 ed., p. 448. I have seen cheeks (a flash name for an accomplice).

Cheeks and Ears.—A fantastic name for a kind of head-dress, of temporary fashion.

(?) Lond. Prod., iv., 3, Suppl. to Sh., II., 511. Fr. O then thou canst tell how to help me to cheeks and ears. L. Yes, mistress, very well. Fl. S. Cheeks and ears! why, mistress Frances, want you cheeks and ears? methinks you have very fair ones. Fr. Thou art a fool indeed, Tom, thou knowest what I mean. Civ. Ay, ay, Kester; ’tis such as they wear a’ their heads.

Cheeks the Marine, subs. phr. (nautical).—Mr. Nobody. An imaginary personage on board ship created and popularised by Captain Marryat. The epithet has, likewise, passed into a byword as a sarcastic rejoinder to a foolish or incredible story—‘tell that to Cheeks the marine.’

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple (ed. 1846), vol. I., ch. vii., p. 36. I enquired who, and he said Cheeks the marine.

1878–80. Justin McCarthy, History of Our Own Times, II., ch. xiii., p. 15 (1848). Cheeks the Marine was a personage very familiar at that time to the readers of Captain Marryat’s sea stories, and the name of that mythical hero appeared with bewildering iteration in the petition.

1883. Clark Russell, Sailors’ Language. Cheeks the marine: an imaginary being in a man-of-war.

Cheeky, adj. (colloquial).—Coolly presumptuous; impudent or saucy. Fr., insolpé.

1859. H. Kingsley, Geoffrey Hamlyn, ch. xxvi. ‘You will find, Sir,’ said Lee, ‘that these men in this here hut are a rougher lot than you think for; very like they’ll be cheeky.’

1860. Punch, vol. XXXIX., p. 30. ‘The Volunteer on July fourteenth.’ But that Ass Snivens—a coming it as cheeky as could be.

1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 8 Nov., p. 2, col. 3. The cheeky boy, with the natural ingratitude of youth, often makes a long nose at his master, even when showing off all that the master has taught him.

Cheese. The cheese, phr. (common).—1. Anything first-rate or highly becoming; the expression runs up and down the whole gamut of ‘cheese nomenclature’ from the Stilton, Double Gloster, to the pure Limburger. [It has been variously traced to the Anglo-Saxon ceosan, to choose; German, kiesen; French, chose; Persian, chiz; Hindu, cheez, thing. Summing up the evidence, the expression—(barring a solitary reference in the London Guide of 1818, where it is referred to a bald translation of c’est une autre chose, i.e., that is another cheese, subsequently coming to signify that is the real thing)—appears to have come into general vogue about 1840. This contention is borne out in some measure by a correspondent to Notes and Queries (1853, 1 S., viii., p. 89), who speaks of it as about ‘ten or twelve years old,’ a calculation which carries it back to the date when it appears to have started in literature. Yule, writing much later, says the expression was common among young Anglo-Indians, e.g., ‘my new Arab is the real chiz,’ i.e., ‘the real thing,’ a fact which points to a Persian origin.] For synonyms, see a1.

1835. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. xiv. Whatever is the go in Europe will soon be the cheese here.

1837. R. H. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, p. 418. Cries Rigmaree, rubbing her hands, ‘that will please—My “Conjuring cap”—it’s the thing;—it’s the cheese.’

1842. Punch, vol. III., p. 33. ‘I hopes my love will excuse me if I’m not quite—quite—’ ‘Comme il faut, George.’ ‘I don’t mean that, love—not quite the cheese.’

1860. Punch, vol. XXXIX., p. 97. Were the custom [of putting mottoes on garments, temp. Rich. II.] now revived we can conceive what stupid mottoes would be sported by the Œntish who always mock and maul the fashion of their betters:—‘I wish my gal to please: O, aint I just the cheese’ would doubtless be a popular device for a new shirt front.

1863. Chas. Reade, Hard Cash, II., 186. ‘Who ever heard [said Mrs. Dodd] of a young lady being married without something to be married in?’ ‘Well [said Edward], I’ve heard Nudity is not the cheese on public occasions.’

2. subs. (schools and University).—An adept; one who ‘takes the shine out of another’ at anything; at Cambridge an overdressed dandy is called a howling cheese. [An extended usage based on sense 1.]

1864. Eton School-days. ‘Do you know Homer, Purefoy?’ asked Chudleigh. ‘No, I have not looked at the lesson yet.’ ‘I am sure I don’t know why you ever do; you are such a cheese. I want you to give me a construe.’

Hard cheese, phr. (common).—What is barely endurable; hard lines; bad luck.

Tip-cheese.—Probably the same as Tip-cat (q.v.).

1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers, p. 282 (ed. 1857). All is gloom and silence in the house; even the voice of the child is hushed; his infant sports are disregarded when his mother weeps; his ‘alley tors’ and his ‘commoneys’ are alike neglected; he forgets the long familiar cry of ‘knuckle down,’ and at tip-cheese, or odd and even, his hand is out.

Cheese it! phr. (thieves’).—Leave off! Have done! Be off! [Thought to be a corruption of ‘cease it!’]. For synonyms, see Stow it!

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, Cheese it, the coves are fly; be silent, the people understand our discourse.

1859. Sala, Gaslight and Daylight, ch. xxviii. Two or three ‘hallos!’ and ‘now thens!’ accompanied by a strong recommendation to cheese it (i.e., act of cessation), causes these trifling annoyances to cease.

1864. Times, 7 December. He shouted ‘Murder!’ as well as he could, and the cries he made bringing assistance, he heard one of the men just before they let go of him call out ‘Cheese it, cheese it,’ which a policeman said meant make off.

1871. London Figaro, May 13, p. 3, col. 3. ‘Cheese that,’ cried Bill. ‘The genelman’s agoin’ to read, and I am agoin’ to listen.’

Cheese-Boxes, subs. (American).—A Confederate nickname for vessels of the ‘Monitor’ type; first applied during the Civil War [1860–65]. Cf., tinclads (q.v.).

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 335. The great inventor has not made it known what induced him to choose the name [‘Monitor’]: hence etymologists have evolved it out of their inner consciousness that he must have borrowed it from Gray’s Monitor Dracæna, a large lizard covered with impenetrable armour. Irreverent Confederates called the hideous-looking vessels cheese-boxes, and apparently one designation is, etymologically, though not æsthetically, as good as the other.

Cheesecutter, subs. (common).—1. A prominent, aquiline nose. For synonyms, see Conk.

2. (common).—A large, square peak to a cap; the abat-jour of the Zouaves.

3. (in plural).—Bandy-legs. For synonyms, see Drumsticks.

Cheese-Knife, subs. (military).—A sword. For synonyms, see Cheese-toaster.

Cheesemongers.—A popular name for the First Lifeguards until the Peninsular War. The term then fell into desuetude; but at Waterloo the commanding officer of the regiment had not forgotten it, and when leading to the charge, he called out, ‘Come on, you damned Cheesemongers!’ an invitation accepted so heartily that the title was restored, with the difference that it was no longer a word of reproach. [Some say that the nickname came from their exclusive home service until the time of the Peninsular War; others that it was bestowed on account of the old gentlemen in the corps declining to serve when it was remodelled in 1788, on the ground that the ranks were no longer composed of gentlemen, but of cheesemongers.] Also called The cheeses.

Cheeser, subs. (old).—An eructation. The Spanish has una pluma (f.; literally ‘a feather’); zullenco (a common colloquialism); soltar el preso (soltar = ‘to unloose,’ or ‘to untie’; preso = ‘a prisoner’).

Cheeses.—See Cheesemongers.

Cheese-Toaster, subs. (military).—A sword.

English Synonyms. Toasting-fork; toasting iron; sharp; knitting-needle; iron; cheese-knife; toll; poker.

French Synonyms. Un astic (thieves’: from the German Stich); l’aiguille à tricoter les côtes (military: l’aiguille à tricoter = knitting-needle, côtes = ribs); l’entrecôte (popular); un charlemagne (military; a bayonet-sabre); un Bon-Dieu (military); une curette (military: a cavalry sword, as also is un bancal); une côte de bœuf (thieves’); un grand couteau (military: a cavalry sword. Literally ‘a large knife’); un fauchon (popular); un fauchon de satou (a wooden sword); une gaudille or gandille; Joyeuse (the name of the sword of Charlemagne); une flambe or flamberge (the sword of Roland); une paille de fer (= cold steel); une latte (a cavalry sword); une lardoire (popular).

German Synonym. Michel (from the Hebrew michael, an executioner’s sword; also Langmichel).

Italian Synonym. Martina.

Spanish Synonyms. Fisberta; centella (literally ‘spark,’ ‘thunder,’ ‘lightning’); respeto (properly ‘respect’); garrancha; durindana.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, Cheese-toaster: a sword.

1857–59. Thackeray, Virginians, x. I’ll drive my cheese-toaster through his body.

Cheesy, adj. (common).—Fine or showy. The opposite of ‘dusty.’ [From cheese (q.v.) + y.] For synonyms, see Up to Dick.

1858. R. S. Surtees, Ask Mamma, xlviii., 211. To see him at Tattersall’s sucking his cane, his cheesey hat well down on his nose. [m.]

Chemiloon, subs.—Chemise and drawers in one; a combination (q.v.).

Chepemens, subs. (old).—See quot.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). Chepemans: Cheape-side Market.

Cheque. To have seen the cheque, phr. (common).—To know positively; to be possessed of exact knowledge concerning a matter. For synonyms, see Knowing.

Cherrilets, subs. (old).—The nipples.

1599. Sylvester, Miracle of the Peace. Then those twins, thy strawberry teates, Curled, purled cherrilets?

1654. Witt’s Recreations. Then nature for a sweet allurement sets Two smelling, swelling, bashful cherrylets.

Cherry, subs. (thieves’).—A young girl. Cf., Cherry-ripe and Rosebud.

Cherry-Breeches.—See Cherubims.

Cherry-Coloured, adj. (common).—Either red or black; a term used in a cheating trick at cards. When the cards are being dealt, a ‘knowing’ one offers to bet that he will tell the colour of the turn-up card. ‘Done,’ says Mr. Green. The sum being named, Mr. Sharp affirms that it will be cherry-colour; and as cherries are either black or red, he wins. Grose [1785] has cherry-coloured cat for one either black or white in colour.

1834. Harrison Ainsworth, Rookwood. And forth to the heath is the scamps-man gone, His matchless cherry black prancer riding.

1886. Ill. London News, Jan. 23, p. 78, col. 2. A favourite hoax is the great exhibition, wherein a cherry-coloured cat and a rose-coloured pigeon (the meeting between Wellington and Blucher), etc., are to be shown. The former consists of a black cat and a white pigeon.

Cherry-Merry, adj. (old).—1. Convivial; slightly inebriated.

1602. Middleton, Blurt, I., i. [Tricks, tricks, kerry merry buff!]

1775. Cont. Sterne’s Sent. Jour., 219. That every convivial assistant should go home cherry merry.

2. subs. (Anglo-Indian).—A present of money. Cherry-merry-bamboo, a beating.

Cherry-Pickers, subs. (military).—See Cherubims.

Cherry-Pie, subs. (common).—A girl. [Possibly only an amplification of cherry (q.v.).] For synonyms, see Titter.

Cherry-Pipe, subs. (rhyming slang).—A woman, the ‘rhyme’ being with ‘ripe,’ from cherry-ripe (q.v.). For synonyms, see Petticoat.

Cherry-Ripe, subs. (thieves’).—1. A woman. Cf., Cherry = a young girl. For synonyms, see Petticoat.

2. (old).—A ‘redbreast’ or Bow Street Runner. [So called from the scarlet waistcoat which formed part of the uniform.]

3. (common).—A footman in red plush.

4. (rhyming slang).—A pipe.

Cherubims, vulgo, Cherry-bums, subs. (military).—1. The Eleventh Hussars. [From their crimson overalls.] Also cherry-breeches and cherry-pickers.

1865. Notes and Queries, 3 S., vii., p. 49. 11th Hussars—Cherubims and Cherry Pickers, having had some men taken while on out-post duty in a fruit garden in Spain.

1871. Forbes, Exper. War between France and Germany, II., 149. When [Lord Cardigan] commanded the Cherry-breeches there were generally more sore backs among them than in any other regiment in the service.

1871. Chambers’ Journal, Dec. 23, p. 802. The 11th Hussars, the ‘Cherubims and Cherry Pickers.’

2. (common).—Peevish children. [A facetious allusion to a passage in the Te Deum—‘To Thee cherubin and seraphin continually do cry.’] Quoted by Grose [1785].

3. (common).—Chorister boys. [Either founded on the allusion quoted in sense 2, or in reference to the fact that little more than the heads of choristers is visible to the general congregation.]

To be in the cherubims, phr. (old).—To be in good humour; in the clouds; unsubstantial; fanciful.

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.