verbal subs. (music-hall).—Hanging about stage doors to intercept the ‘artistes,’ and extort money with a statement that the performer who ‘parts’ will be applauded. [For suggested, but very dubious, derivation, see quot., and Cf., CHIRPER, sense 4.]
1888. Pall Mall Gazette, 9 March, p. 14. CHIRRUPING. Mr. Rintoul Mitchell writing from the Savage Club [asks] to add a hint as to the etymology of the word. It is not remote. The French argot for blackmail is chantage. Such paltry operations as those reported from the Lambeth music-hall do not merit the description of singing—they are simply twittering or CHIRRUPING.
