Heading
1771. Smollett, Humphry Clinker, 1., 68. The knight swore he was no such chicken, but a tough old rogue, that would live long enough to plague all his neighbours.
1717-1797. Horace Walpole, Letters, III., 308. I made a visit yesterday to the Abbess of Panthemont, General Oglethorpe's niece, and no chicken.
1859. Sala, Gaslight and Daylight, ch. v. I am no chicken (though not the gray-headed old fogy that insulting Squirrel presumes to call me).
To count one's chickens before they are hatched, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To reckon beforehand upon a successful issue. The Latins said, 'Don't sing your song of triumph before you have won the victory' (ante victoriam canere triumphum). 'Don't hallo till you are out of the wood' has a similar meaning, and in French, to lose a game as good as won = la perdre belle. The expression was doubtless popularised by Butler in his Hudibras [see quot., 1664], but it was known long prior.
1579. Gosson, Ephem., 19a. I woulde not have him to counte his chickens so soone before they be hatcht. [m.]
1664. Butler, Hudibras, II., iii., 923. To swallow gudgeons ere they're catch'd. And count their chickens ere they're hatched.
Chicken-Butcher, subs. (old).—A
poulterer; also a sportsman's
term for anyone shooting immature
game.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.
Chicken-Fixings, subs. (American).—Properly
a hash, stew, or fricassee
of chicken, but the term is
now applied to any fare out of
the common, and also to show of
any kind. French, la gueulardise.
Cf., Common doings.
1864. A Trip to the South. An extraordinary sight were the countless waiters, held up to the car-windows at Gordonsville by turbaned negro-women, filled with coffee-cups, eggs, and the inevitable chicken-fixings, which it was henceforth our fate to meet at every railway depot, till we reached New Orleans.
18(?). Carlton, New Purchase, vol. II., p. 240. These preachers dress like big bugs, and go ridin' about on hundred-dollar horses, a-spungin' poor priest-ridden folks, and a-eaten chicken-fixins so powerful fast that chickens has got scarce in these diggins.
Chi-ike or Chy-ack, subs. (costers').—A
street salute; a word
of praise.—See Coo-ey.
c. 1869. Vance. The Chick-a-leary Cove. Now my pals I'm going to slope, see you soon again, I hope, My young woman is avaiting, so be quick, Now join in a chyike, the 'jolly' we all like.
1885. Daily Telegraph, April 6, p. 6, col. 1. A prosperous butcher . . . gives him what Mr. Poleaxer calls a chi-hike at his gate as he passes that way in his cart, between five and six a.m.
1864. Hotten, Slang Dictionary, s.v.
Verb.—1. To salute or hail.
1886. Sporting Times, 17 July, 7, 2. There was no charge for admission. Enough. They came, they saw, and they chi-iked.
2. (tailors').—To chaff unmercifully. For synonyms, see Gammon, sense 1.
to give chi-ike with the chill off, phr.—To scold; abuse. For synonyms, see Wig.
Child.—See This child.
Children's Shoes.—See Make
children's shoes.
Chill or Take the Chill Off [of
liquids], verb (popular).—To
warm. Chill is a contraction
of the fuller phrase.
1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 264. A pint pot, the contents of which were chilling on the hob.
