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.