or chivvy, subs. (common).—A shout; greeting or cheer. Cf., CHI-IKE.
Verb (common).—To ‘guy’; to chase round or hunt about; to throw or pitch about. Also CHEVY. [Mr. C. G. Leland says in Annandale (vol. I., 460) CHIVVY is a common English word, meaning to goad, drive, vex, hunt, or throw as it were here and there. It is purely Gypsy. Chiv in Rommany means anything sharp-pointed, as a dagger, goad, or knife. The old Gypsy word chiv among its numerous meanings has exactly that of casting, throwing, pitching, and driving. Murray, however, inclines to derive it from Chevy Chase, the scene of a famous Border skirmish; in any case the usage is modern, but see quot., 1821.] So also CHIVIED, CHIVEYING, etc.
1821. W. T. MONCRIEFF, Tom and Jerry, I., vii. Log. Come along, then. Now, Jerry, CHIVEY! Jerry. CHIVEY? Log. Mizzle! Jerry. Mizzle? Log. Tip your rags a gallop! Jerry. Tip my rags a gallop?… Log. Bolt! Jerry. Bolt? Oh, aye! I’m fly now. You mean go.
1840. T. P. THOMPSON, Exercises, Political and Others (1842), V. 50. The other side are to blame, if they do not, as we should say in the dragoons ‘CHEVY’ them back again.
1851–61. H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, vol. III., p. 44. I never had patience enough to try and kill fleas by my process; it would be too much of a CHIVEY to please me.
1863. H. KINGSLEY, Austin Elliot, ch. xxxix. The dog … used to CHIVY the cats into the window among the bon bons, and play the deuce and all.
1864. B. HEMYNG, Eton School Days, ch. xiv., p. 168. Burke, however, ran the faster of the two, and after a short CHIVEY, succeeded in capturing him.
1868. M. E. BRADDON, The Trail of the Serpent, bk. VI., ch. iv. The Board of Health came a-CHIVYING of us to take up our floorings, and limewash ourselves inside.
1871. Daily News Report, ‘A Republican Demonstration in Hyde Park, on Sunday, April 17.’ A comparatively decent man selling ‘A History of Ireland’ was mobbed and CHIVIED from side to side.
