Heading
Chummery, subs. (common).—Chumhood; also the quarters occupied by 'chums.' [From Chum + ery; cf., Rookery, snuggery, &c.].
1877. Besant and Rice. Son of Vulcan, p. 196. Jack and her father lived in bachelor Chummery.
Chummy, subs. (colloquial).—1. A
chimney-sweep's climbing boy. [A
corruption of 'chimney' through
'chumley.']
1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 169. Vereas he 'ad been a chummy—he begged the cheerman's parding for using such a vulgar hexpression, etc.
1844. Thackeray, Greenwich, wks. (1886) XXIII., 380. The hall .. was decorated with banners and escutcheons of deceased chummies. [m.]
1851-61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. II., p. 417. A chummy (once a common name for the climbing-boy, being a corruption of chimney).
1859. W. Gregory, Egypt, I.; 154. His shrill voice, high up aloft, like a chummy's on a London summer morn. [m.]
2. A diminutive form of chum (q.v.).
1864. Gilbert, Bab Ballads, Etiquette. Old chummies at the Charterhouse were Robinson and he. [m.]
3. (common).—A low-crowned felt hat; For synonyms, see Golgotha.
Adj. (colloquial).—Very intimate; friendly; sociable. The analogous French terms are chouette; chouettard; chouettaud.
1884. Harper's Magazine, Sept., p. 536 col. 2. I . . . saw them form into small chummy groups. [m.]
1888. W. Besant, Herr Paulus, bk. III, ch. xi., vol. III., p. 204. I liked the fellow, I confess, and we got chummy in the evenings.
1889. Answers, May 11, p. 380. When I was at Pentonville, a man in the same ward, who had got rather chummy with his warder, asked him to post a letter to his friends in Manchester.
Chump, subs. (common).—1. A
blockhead.
1883. Hawley Smart, At Fault II., i., 29. Such a long-winded old chump at telling a story one don't often see, thank goodness.
1887. Pall Mall Gazette, 2 Feb., p. 10. col. 1. Frank audibly remarked: 'This man is a chump. I could go . . . this minute and do better than that.' [m.]
2. (popular).—A variant of chum, subs. (q.v.). French ma vieille branche = my old chump.
1884. Punch, 11 Oct. Arry at a Political Picnic.' All my Saturday arfs are devoted to Politics. Fancy, old chump, Me doing the sawdusty reglar, and follering swells on the stump.
3. (popular).—The head; especially in the phrase off one's chump (q.v.). For synonyms, see Crumpet.
Chump-of-Wood, subs. phr. (rhyming slang).—No good. Also a blockhead.
Off one's chump, phr. (vulgar).—Insane. Cf., Off one's Head, nut, etc. For synonyms, see Apartments.
c. 1860. Broadside Ballad, 'We are a merry family.' The fire is out, the fender's broke, And father's out on strike, Sister Ann's gone off her chump, In fact, we're all alike.
1866. Broadside Ballad, 'Oh, She Was Such a Beautiful Girl.' She diddled me, she fiddled me, She sent me off my chump.
1877. Besant and Rice, Son of Vulcan, II., xxiv., p. 377. 'Master.' he said, 'have gone off his chump—that's all.'
1883. Besant, Captain's Room, ch. vii., p. 85 (1885). He . . . was engaged to be married to the king's sister . . . unfortunately, only the week before I arrived, he was killed and devoured by a lion, and the princess was gone off her royal chump.
To get one's own chump, phr. (thieves').—See quot.
