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.]