Part 16

Chumpy, adj. (common).—The same as off one’s chump.

Chunk, subs. (colloquial).—1. A thick piece or lump of wood, bread, coal, etc.

1691. Ray, S. and E. Country Wds. (E.D.S.) Chuck, a great chip.... In other countries [= districts] they call it a chunk. [m.]

1787. Grose, Prov. Glossary, ‘Chuck.’ Chuck, a great chip, Suss. In other counties called a chunk or junk.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. xxix. Why not keep a clerk to read for you, and pay out the information in small chunks? I should like to tackle Mr. Carlyle that way.

c. 1880. Broadside Ballad, ‘The Hungry Man from Clapham.’ He’d eat everything there was in the place, He bit a chunk from his mother-in-law’s face.

2. (streets’).—A school-board officer.

18(?). Thor Fredur, Sketches from Shady Places. Here they gambol about like rabbits, until somebody raises the cry, ‘Nix! the chunk’ (the slang term for School Board officer).

Church, verb (thieves’).—To take out the works of a watch and substitute another set, so that identification is impossible.—See Christen, verb, sense 1.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3 ed., p. 445. To have the works of a watch put into another case—To church a yack.

1868. Doran, Saints and Sinn., II., 290. The (thieves’) church their yacks when they transpose the works of stolen watches to prevent identification. [m.]

To talk church, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To talk ‘shop’ (q.v.).

1851. Newland, Erne, 217. Looking at those wretched people and talking church. [m.]

Churchwarden, subs. (general).—A clay pipe with a long stem.—See quot., 1864, under Clay. The following are general variants.

English Synonyms. Alderman; steamer; yard of clay; clay.

French Synonyms. Une bouffarde; une Belge; une chiffarde (thieves’); une marseillaise; une gambier (pop. from a manufacturer’s name).

German Synonyms. Lülke (M.H.G. lullen or löllen = to suck; lülken, to smoke); Massel (Swabian: also = a street-walker; masseln = to smoke); Nagel; Pilmerstab (only in Zimmermann); Sarcherstock (from the Hebrew sorach, through särchen, to stink or to smoke. Sarcher, tobacco; Sarcherkippe or Sarchertiefe, tobacco-box; Sarcherhanjo, tobacco-pouch); Selcher (Viennese thieves’: from selchen, to smoke); Schmalfink.

1857. Hood, Pen and Pencil Pictures, p. 269. Give me my willow-tube for a lance, the lid of a cigar-box for a shield. Thrust me a pair of cutties into my girdle for pistols; hang a churchwarden by my side for a sabre.

1863. Alex. Smith, Dreamthorpe, p. 262. He ... lifted a pipe of the kind called churchwarden from the box on the ground, filled and lighted it.

1864. Dr. Richardson, on ‘Tobacco,’ before Brit. Assoc. Meeting at Bath. Cigars are more injurious than any form of pipe; and the best pipe is unquestionably what is commonly called a churchwarden or long clay.

Churl. To put a churl upon a gentleman.—See Gentleman.

Cider. All talk and no cider, phr. (American).—Purposeless loquacity; ‘Much cry and little wool.’ Literally, much ado about nothing. [For suggested derivation, see quot., 1871.]

1835–40. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xxi. It is an expensive kind of honour that, bein’ Governor.... Great cry and little wool! all talk and no cider.

1858. Notes and Queries, 2 S., v., 233. All talk and no cider. This expression is applied to persons whose performances fall far short of their promises.

1862. C. F. Browne, Artemus Ward: His Book, p. 135. What we want is more cider and less talk.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 591. This phrase originated at a party in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, which had assembled to drink a barrel of superior cider; but politics being introduced, speeches were made, and discussion ensued, till some malcontents withdrew on the plea that it was a trap into which they had been lured, politics and not pleasure being the purpose of the meeting, or, as they called it, all talk and no cider.

Cider And, subs. phr. (colloquial).—Cider mixed with some other ingredient. Cf., Cold without, Hot with, etc.

1742. Fielding, Joseph Andrews, bk. I., ch. xvi. She then asked the doctor and Mr. Barnabas what morning’s draught they chose, who answered, they had a pot of cider-and at the fire.

Cig, subs. (common).—A cigar. [An abbreviation of the legitimate word.] For synonyms, see Weed.

Cinch, verb (American).—To get a grip on; to ‘corner’; to put the screw on; also, in the passive sense, to come out on the wrong side in speculations. [From the Spanish cincha, a belt or girdle; cinchar, to girdle. Properly used of the saddling of horses with the huge Mexican saddle. To cinch a horse, however, is by no means the same as girthing him. The two ends of the tough cordage which constitute the cinch terminate in long narrow strips of leather called latigos—thongs—which connect the cinches with the saddle, and are run through an iron ring and then tied by a series of complicated turns and knots known only to the craft.]

1875. Scribner’s Mag., July, p. 277. A man is cinched = he is hurt in a mining transaction (San Francisco localism).

1881. New York Times, Dec. 18, quoted in Notes and Queries, 6 S., v. 65. Cinch. To subdue, to forcibly bind down and overcome. Thus it is unfairly said that the Northern Pacific Company intends to cinch the settlers by exacting large prices for its lands. Query, from Latin cingere.

1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, 2 Feb. Black and Blue thinks the Dwyers have a cinch on both the great events.

1888. New York World, 22 July. The bettor, of whom the pool-room bookmaker stands in dread, however, is the racehorse owner, who has a cinch bottled up for a particular race, and drops into the room an hour or two before the races begin.

Cincinnati Olive, subs. (American).—A pig. [A spurious ‘olive oil’ is manufactured from lard, and Cincinnati is one of the largest centres of the ‘pork packing industry’ in America.] Cf., Cincinnati Oysters.

Cincinnati Oysters, subs. (American).—Pigs’ trotters. A curious interchange of names occurs between fish, flesh, and fowl. In Cincinnati Oysters we have flesh presented in the guise of fish; and the reverse is the case when the sturgeon is spoken of as Albany beef. Amongst other examples may be quoted marble-head turkey, for a codfish; also, in Nova Scotia a digby chicken = a herring smoked and dried in a peculiar fashion. In England a Billingsgate pheasant is a fresh herring; whilst a Yarmouth bloater is sometimes a two-eyed steak.

Cinder, subs. (common).—1. Any strong liquor as brandy, whiskey, sherry, etc., mixed with a weaker, as soda-water, lemonade, water, etc., to fortify it.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dictionary, s.v.

1883. Referee, March 18, p. 2, col. 4. Having rushed out to get a glass of cold water with a cinder in it to take the chill off.

2. (sporting).—A running path or track; merely an abbreviation of ‘cinder-path,’ it being laid with ‘cinders.’

Cinder-Garbler, subs. (old).—A female servant. Grose [1785] says the term was ‘Custom House wit,’ but gives no particulars.

English Synonyms. Marchioness; slavey; cinder-grabber; cinderella; can (Scots); piss-kitchen; Julia.

French Synonyms. Un extrait de garni (popular); un chambrillon; une bobonne (for bonne); une larbine; une cambrouse; une jeanneton; une groule or groulasse.

German Synonyms. Schifche or Schifches; Schammesch or Schammes (from the Hebrew).

Spanish Synonym. Famula (f).

Circling-Boy, subs. (old).—A ‘rook’; swindler. Nares says a species of roarer; one who in some way drew a man into a snare, to cheat or rob him. See Gifford.—Ben Jonson, Barth. Fair, iv., 3, p. 481.

Circs, subs. (common).—Circumstances.

Circumbendibus, subs. (old).—A roundabout; a long-winded story. [From Lat. circum, around, + Eng. bend, with a Latin termination.]

1681. Dryden, Sp. Friar, V., ii. I shall fetch him back with a circumbendibus, I warrant him. [m.]

1768. Lord Carlisle, in Jesse’s Selwyn, II., 317 (1882). I can assure you it grieved me that anything of yours should make such a circumbendibus before it came to my hands.

1773. O. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, Act v., Sc. 2. ‘And from that, with a circumbendibus, I fairly lodged them in the horse-pond at the bottom of the garden.’

1849. Lytton, Caxtons, pt. VIII., ch. i. The cabman, to swell his fare, had thought proper to take a circumbendibus.

1890. Notes and Queries, 7 S., ix., 29 March.... No choice but to deliver himself of a malediction with a circumbendibus.

Circumlocution Office, subs. (common).—A centre of red-tape; a roundabout way. [A term invented by Charles Dickens (see quot., 1857), and applied at first in ridicule to public offices, where everybody tries to shuffle off his responsibilities upon some one else.]

1857. C. Dickens, Little Dorrit, I., x. The Circumlocution Office was the most important Department under Government. Ibid. Whatever was required to be done, the Circumlocution Office was beforehand with all the public departments in the art of perceiving—How not to do it.

1870. Graphic, Feb. 19, in ‘By the Bye.’ To complete the contretemps a portion of the telegraphs struck work on the very first day of the Government taking them in hand. Of course the great tribe of evil-wishers ran about chuckling, and rubbing their hands gleefully. ‘I told you so,’ cried Rubasore. Circumlocution Office again, sneered Crossgrain.

Circumslogdologize.—See Stockdollagize.

Circumstance. Not a circumstance, etc., phr. (American).—Not to be compared with; a trifle; of no account—unfavourable comparison.

18(?). J. H. Beadle, Western Wilds, p. 28. I took a broadhorn to Noo Orleens, and when I was paid off on the levee, I was the worst lost man you ever did see. In the middle of the thickest woods in the world wasn’t a circumstance to it.

1848. J. R. Lowell, Biglow Papers. For Jacob warn’t a suckemstance to Jeff at financierin’; He never’d thought of borryin’ from Esau like all nater An’ then cornfiscatin’ all debts to sech a small pertater.

To whip [something] into a circumstance = to surpass. Thus a newspaper correspondent writes that ‘the streets of Georgetown, Demerara, are broad, smooth, and well laid out. Georgetown could give points to New York in its roads, and whip it into a circumstance.’

Circus-Cuss, subs. (thieves’).—A circus-rider.

Citizen, subs. (thieves’).—A wedge for ‘prizing open’ safes, before the alderman (q.v.), and jemmy (q.v.).—See also Citizens’ friend.

Citizens’ Friend, subs. (thieves’).—A smaller wedge than the citizen (q.v.), for ‘prizing open’ safes. The order in which the tools are used is (1) Citizens’ Friend; (2) Citizen; (3) the Alderman (i.e., a Jemmy); and sometimes (4) a Lord Mayor. For synonyms, see Jemmy and Betty.

City College, subs. (thieves’).—Newgate. In New York = ‘The Tombs.’ For synonyms, see Cage.

City Stage, subs. (old).—The gallows, formerly in front of Newgate. For synonyms, see Nubbing Cheat.

Civet, subs. (general).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Civil Reception.—See House of Civil Reception.

Civil-Rig, subs. (vagrants’).—A trick to obtain alms by a profuse show of civility and obsequiousness.

Civvies, subs. (military).—Civilians’ clothes, as opposed to regimentals. [A corruption of the legitimate word.]

Clack, subs. (colloquial).—1. Idle, loquacious talk; gossip; prattle—an exceedingly old usage. For synonyms, see Patter.

c. 1440. York, Myst. XXXIV., 211. Ther quenes vs comeres with her clakke. [m.]

1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, in wks. V. 251. Their clacke or gabbling to this purport.

1678. Butler, Hudibras, pt. III., ch. ii. And, with his everlasting clack, Set all men’s ears upon the rack.

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. liv. I dreaded her unruly tongue, and felt by anticipation the horrors of an eternal clack!

1812. H. and J. Smith, Rejected Addresses (‘Punch’s Apotheosis’). See she twists her mutton fists like Molyneux or Beelzebub, And t’other’s clack, who pats her back, is louder far than Bell’s hubbub.

1888. J. Payn, Myst Mirbridge (Tauchn.) II., xviii., 197. The old fellow would have had a clack with her. [m.]

2. (common).—The tongue [i.e., that which clacks (q.v.), verb.] A more ancient form was clap dating back to 1225.

English Synonyms. Glib; red-rag; clapper; dubber; velvet; jibb; quail-pipe.

French Synonyms. La diligence de Rome (popular); un battant (thieves’: also ‘heart,’ ‘stomach,’ and ‘throat’); un bon battant (‘a nimble tongue.’ Cf., ‘clapper’); une chiffe or un chiffon rouge (popular); une gaffe; le grelot.

German Synonym. Lecker (literally ‘the licker’).

Italian Synonyms. Serpentina; dannoso (literally ‘damagable’); zavarina (properly ‘a trifling old woman’).

Spanish Synonym. La desosada (i.e., Old Boneless).

1598. Greene, Jas. IV., wks. (Gros.) XIII., 210. Haud your clacks, lads. [m.]

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Clack (s.) ... also a nickname for a woman’s tongue; a prattler or busybody.

1828. D’Israeli, Chas. I., II., i., 23. Who, as washerwomen ... at their work, could not hold their clack. [m.]

1864. E. Sargent, Peculiar, III., 76. To hermetically seal up this Mrs. Gentry’s clack. [m.]

Verb.—To gabble. For synonyms, see Patter.

Clack-Box, subs. (common).—1. The mouth. For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

2. (common).—A chatterbox.

English Synonyms. A mouth almighty; poll parrot; babble-merchant; slammer.

French Synonyms. Un parlotteur (familiar); un dévideur or une dévideuse (popular: literally ‘a winder’); un bagoulard (popular: c’est un fameux bagoulard = he is the bloke to slam); un chambert: abuser du crachoir (said of a chatterbox who does too much with the ‘spitter’).

Spanish Synonyms. Hablatista (m; jocular); hablantin or hablanchin (m; colloquial); ladrador (m; properly ‘a barker’); prosador (m; properly ‘a sarcastic and malicious babbler’); gazetilla (f; ‘a farthing newspaper’); garlador; fuelle (m; properly ‘a pair of bellows’); ya escampa (it is importunate babbling; escampar signifies literally ‘to clean or clear out a place’); cotorrera (= a gossip; cotorreria = loquacity; a term specially applied to women); comadre (f; juéves de comadres = Cummers’ Thursday, the last before Shrove Tuesday); una chicharra (a prattler; chicharra = ‘a froth worm’ or ‘harvest fly’); charlantin.

Clack-Loft, subs. (popular).—A pulpit. [From clack, verb, + loft, an elevated room or place.] For synonyms, see Hum-box.

Claim, verb (thieves’).—To steal. (A locution similar in character to ‘annex,’ ‘convey,’ etc., and derived from a sense of the legitimate word signifying ‘to demand on the ground of right.’) For synonyms, see Prig.

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macmillan’s Mag., XL., 501. So I claimed (stole) them.

To jump a claim, phr. (American and colonial).—To take forcible possession; to defraud; specifically to seize land which has been taken up and occupied by another settler, or squatter. The first occupant is, by squatter law and custom, entitled to the first claim on the land.—See Jump.

1846. E. H. Smith, Hist. of Black Hawk. When I hunted claims, I went far and near, Resolved from all others to keep myself clear; And if, through mistake, I jumped a man’s claim, As soon as I knew it I jumped off again.

18(?). F. Marryat, Mountains and Molehills, p. 217. If a man jumped my claim, and encroached on my boundaries, and I didn’t knock him on the head with a pickaxe, I appealed to the crowd, and, my claim being carefully measured and found correct, the jumper would be ordered to confine himself to his own territory.

1883. R. L. Stevenson, The Silverado Squatters, p. 221. The claim was jumped; a track of mountain-side, fifteen hundred feet long by six hundred wide ... had passed from Ronalds to Hanson, and in the passage changed its name from the ‘Mammoth’ to the ‘Calistoga.’

Clam, subs. (American).—1. A blockhead. Anglicé, ‘as stupid as an oyster.’ Shakspeare (Much Ado About Nothing, ii. 3) has ‘Love may transform me to an oyster; but I’ll take my oath on it, till he hath made an oyster of me, he shall never make me such a fool.’—See Chowder-headed; chowder is a favourite form of serving clams.

1871. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Sketches, I., 46. A fine stroke of sarcasm, that, but it will be lost on such an intellectual clam as you.

2. The mouth or lips. Also clam-shell. ‘Shut your clam-shell’ = ‘Shut your mouth.’ The padlock now used on the United States mail-bags is called the ‘Clam-shell padlock.’ For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, I., 143. Shet your clam, our David.

1848. J. R. Lowell, Biglow Papers, II., p. 19. You don’t feel much like speakin’, When if you let your clam-shells gape, a quart of tar will leak in.

1848. Bartlett, Dict. Americanisms. Shut up your clam-shells. Close your lips together; be silent. Common along the shores of Connecticut and Rhode Island, where clams abound. Same as ‘shut your head.’

Clam-Butcher, subs. (American).—A man who opens clams; the attendant at an oyster bar is an ‘oyster-butcher.’

Clank, subs. (thieves’).—A pewter tankard; formerly a silver one.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue Clank: a silver tankard.

1837. Disraeli, Venetia, ch. xiv. Tip me the clank like a dimber mort as you are.

Clanker, subs. (old).—1. A great lie.—Grose. Cf., Clinker. For synonyms, see Whopper.

2. (old).—Silver plate. Cf., Clank.

Clank Napper, subs. (old).—A thief whose speciality is silver-plate. [From clank, subs. + napper (q.v.), a thief.] For synonyms, see Thieves.

Clap (or Clapper), subs. (common).—1. The tongue. [From clap = chatter; a babbler’s tongue is said to be hung in the middle, and to sound with both ends.] For synonyms, see Clack.

a. 1225. Ancr. R., 72. Þeone kuðen heo neuere astunten hore cleppe.

1609. Dekker, Guls’ Horne-Booke, ch. vi. And to let that clapper (your tongue) be tost so high, that all the house may ring of it.

1633. Massinger, New Way to Pay Old Debts, III., 2. Greedy. Sir Giles, Sir Giles! Over. The great fiend, stop that clapper!

1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. VII., ch. xv. My landlady was in such high mirth with her company that no clapper could be heard there but her own.

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xix. I thought I should have snorted right out two or three times ... to hear the critter let her clapper run that fashion.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. vi. But old Murdoch was too pleased at hearing his own clapper going, and too full of whiskey, to find him out.

1878. John Payne, tr. Poems of Villon, p. 139. Enough was left me (as warrant I will) To keep me from holding my clapper still, When jargon that meant ‘You shall be hung’ They read to me from the notary’s bill: Was it a time to hold my tongue?

2. (vulgar).—Gonorrhœa; once in polite use. [Origin uncertain; cf., Old Fr. clapoir, bosse, bubo, panus inguinis; clapoire, clapier, ‘lieu de débauche,’ ‘maladie q’on y attrape’]. For synonyms, see Ladies’ Fever.

1587. Myrr. Mag., Malin iii. Before they get the clap.

1706. Farquhar, The Recruiting Officer. Five hundred a year besides guineas for claps.

1709. Swift, Adv. Relig. Works [1755] II., i. 99, s.v.

1738. Johnson, London, 114. They sing, they dance, clean shoes, or cure a clap.

1881. In Syd. Soc. Lex.

Verb (vulgar).—To infect with clap; see subs. Also figuratively.

1658. Osborn, Jas. I. [1673], 514. Atropos clapt him, a Pox on the Drab!

1680. Butler, Rem. [1759], I. 249. [They] had ne’er been clap’d with a poetic itch.

1738. Laws of Chance. Pref. 9. It is hardly 1 to 10 ... that a Town-Spark of that Age has not been clap’d.

Clapper-Dudgeon, subs. (old).—A whining beggar.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 26. These Palliards be called also Clapper dogens, these go with patched clokes, and haue their morts with them which they cal wiues.

1625. Jonson, Staple of News, II. Here he is, and with him—what? a clapper-dudgeon! That’s a good sign, to have the beggar follow him so near.

1705–7. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, vol. I., pt. V., p. 10. Says he, there is an old curmudgeon, A hum-drum, preaching, clapperdudgeon.

1863. Sala, Capt. Dang., II., vii., 225. Rogues, Thieves ... and Clapper-dudgeons ... infested the outskirts of the Old Palace. [m.]

Clap of Thunder, subs. phr. (old).—A glass of gin: a variant of Flash of Lightning (q.v.).

1821. P. Egan, Tom and Jerry [Ed. 1890], p. 79. I have not exactly recovered from the severe effects of the repeated ‘flashes of lightning’ and strong claps of thunder, with which I had to encounter last night.

Clap-Shoulder, subs. (old).—A term applied to the officers of justice who laid their hands upon people’s shoulders when they arrested them. Cf., Catch-pole.

1630. Taylor, Workes. Clap-shoulder serjeants get the devill and all, By begging and by bringing men in thrall.

Clapster, subs. (vulgar).—An habitual sufferer from gonorrhœa; by implication, one much and often in the way of getting clapped.

Claras, subs. (Stock Exchange).—Caledonian Railway Deferred and Ordinary Stock.

1887. Atkin, House Scraps. For we have our Sarahs and Claras. Our Noras and Doras for fays.

Claret, subs. (pugilistic).—Blood, Variants are Badminton, Bordeaux, and Cochineal-dye. French le vermeil or le vermois.

1604. Dekker, Honest Whore, II., 45, wks. [1873]. This should be a Coronation day: for my head runs claret lustily.

1819. Thomas Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 25.... This being the first Royal Claret let flow, Since Tom took the Holy Alliance in Tow, The uncorking produced much sensation about, As bets had been flush on the first painted snout.

1878. Besant and Rice, By Celia’s Arbour, ch. xxxix. The lieutenant picked him up, and placed him—because he declined to stand; and, indeed, the claret was flowing freely—in the President’s arm chair.

To tap one’s Claret, phr.—To draw blood.

Claret Jug, subs. (pugilistic).—The nose. [From claret, blood, + jug, a receptacle.] For synonyms, see Conk.

1859. Punch, vol. XXXVII., p. 22. ‘A Chapter on Slang.’ A man’s broken nose, is his claret-jug smashed.

Clarian, subs. (Cambridge University).—A member of Clare Hall, Cambridge; also a Greyhound (q.v.).

1889. C. Whibley, Cap and Gown. E’en stuke-struck Clarians strove to stoop.

Class, subs. (athletic).—The highest quality or combination of highest qualities among athletes. He’s not class enough, i.e., not good enough. There’s a deal of class about him, i.e., a deal of quality. The term obtains to a certain extent among turfites.

1884. Referee, March 23, p. 1, col. 3. The elasticity necessary for anything like class at sprinting departs comparatively early.

Claw, subs. (prison).—A lash of the cat-o’-nine-tails. Cf., Clawed-off, sense 1.

1876. Greenwood, A Night in a Work-house. Oh! cuss that old Kerr, who condemned me to twenty-five claws with the cat.

Claws for Breakfast, subs. phr. (prison).—See quot.

1873. Greenwood, In Strange Company. A ruffian being uncertain as to the morning when he is to have, as he himself would say, claws for breakfast, is in the habit of lying night after night in a sweat of terror.

Clawed-off, adv. phr. (old).—1. Severely beaten or whipped. Cf., Claw.

2. (old).—Venereally infected.

Claw-Hammer, subs. (Irish).—A dress coat. [From a supposed similarity in the cut of the tails to a claw hammer, one end of which is divided into two claws, for extracting nails from wood.] Also called steel-pen coat and swallow-tail. For synonyms of evening dress generally, see War-paint.

1863. Nathaniel Hawthorne, Passages from English Note-books, I., 538. Sea-captains call a dress-coat a claw-hammer.