[Name of a district of London, inhabited chiefly by persons of low character.]
1. a. In various slang uses, mostly attrib. (see quots.).
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, White-chappel-portion, two torn Smocks, and what Nature gave.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulgar T., Whitechapel breed, fat, ragged, and saucy. Whitechapel beau, who dresses with a needle and thread, and undresses with a knife.
1860. Slang Dict., Whitechapel, or Westminster Brougham, a costermonger’s donkey-barrow.
1863. Dickens, Uncomm. Trav., xxv[ii]. What is termed in Albion a ‘Whitechapel shave’ (and which is, in fact, whitening, judiciously applied to the jaws with the palm of the hand).
1865. Slang Dict., Whitechapel fortune, a clean gown and a pair of pattens.
b. attrib. or absol. Applied to certain irregular or unskilful methods of play in whist and billiards: see quots. colloq.
1755. Connoisseur, No. 60, ¶ 5. They know no more of the game [sc. whist] than what is called White-Chapel play.
1847. Halliwell, Whitechapel-play [= Bungay-play, a simple straightforward way of playing the game of whist, by leading all the winning cards in succession, without endeavouring to make the best of the hand.]
1866. N. & Q., 3rd Ser. IX. 372/2. The Saying at Whist, when you play ace and king of a suit—‘That is Whitechapel play.’ Ibid., 440. All billiard players know, that when an adversary ‘pockets’ your ball, it is called ‘Whitechapel play,’ the act of doing so being considered anything but etiquette.
1899. A. Mainwaring, Cut Cavendish, 12. Avoid the hateful ‘Whitechapel,’ i.e. the lead from a single card.
2. Whitechapel needle: some particular make of needle; in quot. 1828 allusively. U.S.
1774. Pennsylv. Gaz., 10 Aug. Suppl. 2/2. Whitechapel and Glovers needles.
1828. Lights & Shades, II. 188. He had pricked his fingers with ‘Gammer Gurton’s needle,’ in buying a Whitechapel one. Note, A cant phrase for a counterfeited copy of this old play.
3. In full Whitechapel cart, a kind of light two-wheeled spring cart.
1842. J. Aiton, Dom. Econ. (1857), 129. For a minister with a family, a whitechapel is, upon the whole, the best of the open conveyances…. It carries six.
1859. Carriage Builders’ Art Jrnl., I. 26/2. A light Whitechapel Cart, suitable to the use of a country gentleman.
1875. Hints to Yng. Tandem Drivers, 6. Whitechapels (from the fact that the passengers sit inside them instead of outside) are dangerous to get out of in any emergency.
1900. Gunton, Patent Specif., No. 1332. Improved seat-shifting fittings for Dogcarts, Whitechapels or any other vehicles.
4. as adj. Low, vulgar.
1901. Scotsman, 11 March, 7/5. The humiliation of the party by the Whitechapel scene of Tuesday.
