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1602. Middleton, Blurt, I., i. [Tricks, tricks, kerry merry buff!]
1775. Cont. Sterne's Sent. Jour., 219. That every convivial assistant should go home cherry-merry.
2. subs. (Anglo-Indian).—A present of money. Cherry-merry-bamboo, a beating.
Cherry-Pickers, subs. (military).—See
Cherubims.
Cherry-Pie, subs. (common).—A
girl. [Possibly only an amplification
of cherry (q.v.).] For
synonyms, see Titter.
Cherry-Pipe, subs. (rhyming
slang).—A woman, the 'rhyme'
being with 'ripe,' from cherry-ripe
(q.v.). For synonyms, see
Petticoat.
Cherry-Ripe, subs. (thieves').—1.
A woman. Cf., Cherry = a
young girl. For synonyms, see
Petticoat.
2. (old).—A 'redbreast' or Bow Street Runner. [So called from the scarlet waistcoat which formed part of the uniform.]
3. (common).—A footman in red plush.
4. (rhyming slang).—A pipe.
Cherubims, vulgo, Cherry-bums,
subs. (military).—1. The
Eleventh Hussars. [From their
crimson overalls.] Also cherry-breeches
and cherry-pickers.
1865. Notes and Queries, 3 S., vii., p. 49. 11th Hussars—Cherubims and Cherry Pickers, having had some men taken while on out-post duty in a fruit garden in Spain.
1871. Forbes, Exper. War between France and Germany, II., 149. When [Lord Cardigan] commanded the Cherry-breeches there were generally more sore backs among them than in any other regiment in the service.
1871. Chambers' Journal, Dec. 23, p. 802. The 11th Hussars, the 'Cherubims and Cherry Pickers.'
2. (common).—Peevish children. [A facetious allusion to a passage in the Te Deum—'To Thee cherubin and seraphin continually do cry.'] Quoted by Grose [1785].
3. (common).—Chorister boys. [Either founded on the allusion quoted in sense 2, or in reference to the fact that little more than the heads of choristers is visible to the general congregation.]
To be in the cherubims, phr. (old).—To be in good humour; in the clouds; unsubstantial; fanciful.
1542. Udal, Erasmus's Apophth., p. 139. Diogenes mocking such quidificall trifles, that were al in the cherubins, said, Sir Plato, your table and your cuppe I see very well, but as for your tabletee and your cupitee I see none soche.
Cheshire Cat. To grin like a
Cheshire cat [chewing
gravel, eating cheese, or
evacuating bones, is sometimes
added], phr. (common).—To
laugh broadly—to 'laugh all
over one's face.' Used disparagingly.
[Origin unknown.]
1782. Wolcot ('P. Pindar'), Pair of Lyric Epistles, in wks. (Dublin, 1795), vol. II., p. 424. Lo, like a Cheshire cat our Court will grin!
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xxiv. In fact, Mr. Newcome says to Mr. Pendennis, in his droll, humourous way, 'that woman grins like a Cheshire cat!' Who was the naturalist who first discovered that peculiarity of the cats in Cheshire?
1859. Letter from Edward S. Taylor to John Camden Hotten, 22 Dec.
