Heading
2. sing. (common).—A London milkman.—See quot. [One who mixes with chalk—an obvious innuendo.] Cf., Cow with the iron tail and Simpson's cow.
1865. Daily Telegraph, Sept. 7 (?). It is an ominous fact that London milkmen are known in the vocabulary of slang as chalkers.
Chalk-Farm, subs. (rhyming-slang).—The
arm.
English Synonyms. Bender; hoop-stick; fin; daddle.
French Synonyms. L'anse (popular: in old French cant anse signified the 'ear'); les allumettes (popular: 'the arms'); l[a]'aile or l[e]'aileron (popular: in the Fourbesque ala); les nageoires (plural).
Italian Synonyms. Ala ('a wing'); barbacana (literally a kind of advanced fortification); tarentule (the Italian has tarantello, 'a spider
Spanish Synonyms. Bracio; remo (properly 'an oar').
Chalk-Head, subs. (old).—A nickname
for a person with a 'good
head for figures.' Waiters in
London are very commonly so
called.—See quot. 1861. [From
the 'chalks' or score formerly
marked up behind a tavern bar,
the 'tally' being 'kept in the
head' instead of being 'chalked
up' on a board or slate.]
1856. Punch, vol. XXXI., p. 134. Billy. You see, Billy, my heddication war summat neglected, and I haven't got the nateral adwantage of a good chalk-head.
1861. Punch, vol. XLI., p. 129. Among tavern waiters a ready reckoner is called a good chalk-head.
Cham or Chammy, subs. (popular).—An
abbreviation of 'champagne.'
For synonyms, see
Drinks. Cf., Boy.
1871. All the Year Round, Feb. 18, p. 285. 'Let's have glasses round. Come and have a bottle of cham.'
Chamber of Horrors, subs. phr.—1.
(parliamentary).—The
Peeresses' Gallery in the House
of Lords. Cf., Cage, sense 4.
1876. Daily News. There could be no doubt as to the inconvenience, the gallery being generally known as the Chamber of Horrors.
2. In plural (common).—Sausages. [From the possibility of adulteration in this species of food. Also bags of mystery, and Sharp's Alley bloodworms.] In Fourbesque, carbonata.
Chamming, verbal subs. (common).—Indulgence
in champagne.
[From cham, verb (on the model
of 'to wine,' 'to beer,' etc.), to
drink champagne, + ing.]
Chance. To have an eye to the
main chance, phr. (colloquial).
To keep in view that which will
result in advantage, interest or
gain. [Thought to have originated
in the phraseology of the
game of hazard.] Murray, quoting
from the Dict. Cant. Crew,
says that 'to have an eye to
the main chance' was a
cant phrase in 1699, and that
the expression still partakes of
the character. All the quotations
given in the N.E.D. prior
to 1699, illustrate a simpler
form of the colloquialism, such
as to 'stand to the main chance,'
but it will be seen that to have
an eye to the main chance
is more than a hundred years
older.
