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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 man-*slaughter'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.
