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.