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1864. Athenæum, Oct. 29. Cheap and nasty, or, in a local form, 'cheap and nasty, like Short's in the Strand,' a proverb applied to the deceased founder of cheap dinners.
To feel cheap, verb phr. (common).—To 'have a mouth on;' to be suffering from a night's debauch.
Dirt cheap or dog cheap, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Inexpensive; as cheap as may be. Dog cheap is the earliest form in which this colloquialism appears in English literature, dirt cheap not being found earlier than 1837.
1577. Holinshed, Chron. Descr. Irel., iii. They afourded their wares so dogge cheape, that etc. [m.]
1837. C. Dickens, Oliver Twist, xxxvii. 'I sold myself,' said Mr. Bumble . . . 'I went very reasonable. Cheap, dirt cheap!'
Cheapside. He came home by
way of cheapside, phr. (old).—That
is 'he gave little or
nothing for it'; 'he got it cheap.'
Cheat, subs. (old).—A general
name for any object. [From
Anglo-Saxon ceat, a thing. Cf.,
quot., 1608.] A term which, with
a descriptive adjective, appears
in a variety of forms in
Old Cant. The cheat par
excellence was the gallows, also
known as the nubbing, topping,
or treyning-cheat. The
word is variously spelt—chet,
chete, cheate, cheit, chate,
cheat. The following combinations
will serve to illustrate its
use.
Belly-chete = An Apron. Bleting-chete = A sheep or calf. Cackling-chete = A fowl. Crashing-cheats = The teeth. Grunting-chete = A pig. Hearing-chetes = The ears. low'ing-chete = A cow. Lullaby-chete = An infant. Mofling-chete = A napkin. Nubbing-cheat = The gallows. Prattling-chete = The tongue. quacking-chete = A duck. Smelling-chete = The nose. Topping-cheat = The gallows. Treyning-cheat = The gallows. Trundling-cheat = A cart or coach.
All of which see.
1567. Harman, Caveat [ed. 1869], p. 86. Now we have well bous'd, let vs strike some chete [that is], now we have well dronke, let us steale some thinge.
1608. Dekker, Belman of London, in wks. (Grosart) III., 117. The Cheating Law or the Art of winning money by false dyce. Those that practise this studie call themselues Cheators, the dyce Cheaters, and the money which they purchase Cheates: borrowing the tearme from our common Lawyers, with whome all casuals as fall to the Lord at the holding of his Leetes, as Waifes, Strayes, and such like, are said to be Escheated to the Lord's use, and are called Cheates.
1611. Shakspeare, Winter's Tale, iv., 2, 28. With dye and drab, I purchas'd this Caparison, and my Reuennew is the silly Cheate. Gallowes, and Knocke, are too powerfull on the Highway.
1754. Fielding, Jonathan Wild, bk. IV., ch. ii. See what your laziness is come to; to the cheat, for thither will you go now, that's infallible.
Cheats, subs. (old).—Sham cuffs
or wristbands. Cf., Dicky and
Shams.—See also quot., 1688.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III., p. 96, col. 1. A . . . kind of Waistcoats are called Chates, because they are to be seen rich and gaudy before, when all the back part is no such thing. Ibid, III., p. 258, col. 1. Such Gallants weare not Cheats or half Sleeves, but . . . their Waistcoats are the same clear throughout. [m.]
1690. B. E., Dictionary Canting Crew. Cheats . . . also Wristbands or sham Sleeves worn for true, or whole ones.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue.}
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum.} Sham sleeves to put over a dirty shift or shirt.
Checks, subs. (American).—Money
in general; cash. [A term derived
from poker, in which game
