Slang and its analogues, 2 | Project Gutenberg

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

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

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

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

Caviare, subs. (literary).—The obnoxious matter ‘blacked out’ by the Russian Press Censor. Every foreign periodical entering Russia is examined for objectionable references or ‘irreligious’ matter, the removal whereof is accomplished in two ways. If the articles or items are bulky, [62]they are torn or cut out bodily. If they are brief, they are ‘blacked out’ by means of a rectangular stamp about as wide as an ordinary newspaper column, and ‘cross-hatched’ in such a way that, when inked and dabbed upon the paper, it makes a close network of white lines and black diamonds. The peculiar mottled or grained look of a page thus treated has suggested the attributive caviare: a memory of the look of the black salted caviare spread upon a slice of bread and butter. A verb has been formed from the noun, and every Russian now understands that ‘to caviare’ = to ‘black out.’ Of course as long as the Russian Government permits the entry of letters without censorial examination, any citizen of St. Petersburg or Moscow can write to Berlin, Paris, or London, and ask to have cut out and forwarded in a sealed envelope either a particular article that has been caviared, or all articles relating to Russia that may appear in any specified newspaper or magazine.

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

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

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

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

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

Cawbawn.—See Cobbon.

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

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

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

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

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dictionary. Caz: cheese; ‘As good as caz,’ is a phrase signifying that any projected fraud or robbery may be easily and certainly accomplished. [63]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 219. Others again would indulge in a break-down, or cellar-flap dance, dreadfully to the discomfort of the men in the cells below. [64]

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.

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 [65]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.]

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.

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

Chaff-Cutter, subs. (old).—A back-biter or slanderer. [66]

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. [67]

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.

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.’

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.’ [68]

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). [69]

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.

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’).

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. [70]

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. [71]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 [72]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).

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.]

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 [73]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.

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. [74]

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.

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.]

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.’]

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.’ [75]

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.

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.

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.

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 [76]watchman.] For synonyms, see Ticker.

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.

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.

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

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 [77]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.]