Chucker-Out, subs. (colloquial).—A man retained to eject or ‘chuck out’
from public meetings, taverns, brothels, and hells.—See quot., 1880.
1880. Punch, No. 2040, p. 63. Lord Grey was about to resume his
rôle of chucker-out to the proposed measures of his own party.
1883. Saturday Review, March 31, p. 398, col. 1. We hired a smiling
but stalwart assistant to act in the capacity of chucker-out.
1884. Good Words, June, p. 400, col. 1. He had done twelve months
[in prison] for crippling for life the chucker-out of one of these
pubs. [m.]
1885. All the Year Round, Nov., 2226. Dens to which Brickey is
attached in the capacity of chucker-out. [m.]
1887. Guardian, 2 March, p. 343, col. 1. Bogus meetings, where the
chairman, committee, reporters, audience, and chuckers-out were all
subsidised. [m.]
1890. The Scots Observer, p. 394, col. 2. The result of which was
the resolution to appoint a body of Chuckers-out to keep delegates
in order, and to show the Commons what to do with its Healys and
its Tanners.
Chuck-Farthing, Chuck, Chuck-and-Toss, or Pitch-and-Toss, subs. phr.
(common).—Games played with money, which is pitched at a line,
gathered, shaken in the hands, and tossed up into the air so as to fall
‘heads and tails’ until the stakes are guessed away. A parish clerk was
formerly nicknamed a chuck-farthing.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Chuck Farthing: a Parish Clerk (in
the Satyr against Hypocrites) also a Play among Boies.
1703. Ward, London Spy, pt. XIII., p. 317. Where Mumpers, Soldiers
and Ballad-Singers, were as busie at chuck-farthing and Hussle-Cap,
as so many Rooks at a gaming Ordinary.
1712. Spectator, No. 509. The unlucky boys with toys and balls were
whipped away by a beadle, I have seen this done indeed of late, but
then it has been only to chase the lads from chuck, that the beadle
might seize their copper.
1759. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, vol. I., ch. x. The spinning-wheel
forgot its round,—even chuck-farthing and shuffle-cap themselves
stood gaping till he had got out of sight.
1821. Clare, Vill. Minstr., I., 174. With chuck and marbles wearing
Sunday through.
1851. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, II., p. 398. They frequently
had halfpence given to them. They played also at chuck and toss
with the journeymen, and of course were stripped of every farthing.
c. 1868. Brough, Field of the Cloth of Gold. From pitch-and-toss to
manslaughter’s my game.
1878. M. E. Braddon, Cloven Foot, ch. xlii. ‘I remember when I was
a little chap, at Dr. Prossford’s grammar school, playing
chuck-farthing.’
1888. Illus. London News, Summer Number, p. 26, col. 1. Having
replaced the musty documents upon the shelf, that ingenious youth
adjourned to indulge in the passionately exhilarating game of
chuck-farthing.
Chuck In, verb (pugilistic).—To challenge.—[From the custom of throwing
a hat into the ring; a modern version of throwing down the gauntlet.
Also, ‘to compete’; e.g., I shall have a chuck in = ‘I shall try my
luck’—with a woman, a raffle, a personal encounter, and so on.
Chucking-Out, subs. (popular).—Ejection. [From chuck, verb, sense 1,
through chuck up (q.v.), + ing + out.] Also as an adj.
1881. Sportsman, Jan. 31, p. 3, col. 5. We were the first to take
the part of the pit against a chucking-out policy. [m.]
1887. Pall Mall Gaz., Feb. 23, p. 11, col. 1. Evictions in
Glenbeigh ... and chuckings-out in London. [m.]
1887. G. R. Sims, How the Poor Live, p. 83. It is fair to say that
the youths seemed quite ready for the emergency, and took their
chucking-out most skilfully.
Chucks! intj. (school).—A boy’s signal on a master’s approach. A French
schoolboy’s equivalent is Vesse!
Chuck the Dummy, verbal phr. (thieves’).—To feign sickness, especially
epilepsy; a common dodge in prisons to get an order for the infirmary.
Chuff It! intj. (common).—Be off! Take it away! For synonyms, see
Hookey Walker!
Chul or Chull, verb (Anglo-Indian).—See quot.
1886. G. A. Sala, in Ill. L. News, June 19, p. 644. In Calcutta
chul is a word that you hear fifty times a day. A lady tells you
that her new Ayah will not chul at all; the proprietor of that
popular weekly journal, the Hooghly Dacoit ... tells you that he is
going home for six months; but that he has an able editor, and that
the paper will chul very well during his absence. The chul, I
apprehend, means to go on, to proceed, to do.
Chum, subs. (colloquial).—A close companion; a bosom friend; an
intimate. Formerly a chamber-fellow or mate. [Johnson calls it a term
used in the Universities, and the earliest quot. seems to bear him out.
The derivation is uncertain, and Dr. Murray says ‘no historical proof
connecting it with “chamber-fellow” or “chamber-mate” has been found.’]
1684. Creech, Theocritus, Idyll XII. Ded. to my chum, Mr. Hody of
Wadham College. [m.]
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Chum: a Chamber-fellow, or constant
Companion.
1714. Spectator, No. 617. Letter written by University man to a
friend begins ‘Dear Chum.’
c. 1750. Humours of the Fleet, quot. in Ashton’s Eighteenth Century
Waifs, p. 249. When you have a chum, you pay but fifteen pence per
week each.
1828–45. T. Hood, Poems, vol. II., p. 201 (ed. 1846). The very chum
that shared my cake Holds out so cold a hand to shake It makes me
shrink and sigh.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. v. The Colonel, as has been stated,
had an Indian chum or companion, with whom he shared his lodgings.
1889. Pall Mall Gazette, Nov. 21, p. 6, col. 2. His [Allingham’s]
own chosen friend was Dante Gabriel Rossetti, his chums the
Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood.
English Synonyms. Gossip; pal; pard (American); marrow (north-country);
cully (theatrical); cummer; ben cull; butty; bo’ (nautical); mate or
matey; ribstone; bloater.
French Synonyms. Une branche (literally a branch or bough); un amar or
amarre (thieves’, Cf., amarre, a cable, rope, hawser); un aminche,
aminchemar, or aminchemince (thieves’: aminche d’af = an accomplice or
stallsman); amis comme cochons (popular, m. pl.: literally ‘as thick as
pigs.’ Cf., as thick as thieves); un matelot; une coterie (popular); un
bon attelage (cavalry = a couple of good friends; literally ‘a good
team’); un artiste (popular); un camerluche or camarluche (popular);
vieux frère la côte (sailors’); un camaro; une faridole (prostitutes’ =
a female pal); un fanande, or fanandel (thieves’).
German Synonyms. Gleicher (also ‘a brother’); Kineh or Kinehbruder
(Viennese thieves’: German thieves use Kinne; from the Hebrew Kinnim,
‘a louse’; Kinnemachler, literally ‘lice eater’ = a dirty, filthy
fellow; also = a miser. Kinimer = a man full of lice).
Italian Synonyms. Furbo = ‘an imposter, rogue, or sharper’; foneo;
calcagno; guido, or guidone (literally a ‘guide.’ Also a ‘dog’ or
‘beggar’).
Spanish Synonyms. Cirinco (m); compinche (m).
Portuguese Synonym. Filhos do Golpe (literally ‘children of the
crowd’).