subs. (colloquial).—1. A trick; swindle; sham; or ‘SELL’ (q.v.). [From CHOUSE, a cheat, trickster, or swindler, through the verb. The derivation is thus discussed and weighed by Dr. Murray: ‘As to the origin of the Eng. use, Gifford (1814), in a note on the quot. from Ben Jonson, says, ‘In 1609, Sir Robt. Shirley sent a messenger or CHIAUS to this country, as his agent from the Grand Signior and the Sophy to transact some preparatory business.’ The latter ‘CHIAUSED the Turkish and Persian merchants of £4,000,’ and decamped. But no trace of this incident has yet been found outside of Gifford’s note; it was unknown to Peter Whalley, a previous editor of Ben Jonson, 1756; also to Skinner, Henshaw, Dr. Johnson, Todd, and others who discussed the history of the word. Yet most of these recognised the likeness of CHOUSE to the Turkish word, which Henshaw even proposed as the etymon on the ground that the Turkish CHIAUS ‘is little better than a fool.’ Gifford’s note must therefore be taken with reserve.’] The word is also used at Eton in this sense, but see sense 2, which is the commoner. Variously spelt CHIAUS, CHEWS, SHOWSE, GHOWSE, and CHOUSE.
1610. JONSON, The Alchemist, I., ii., 25.
| Dap. … What do you think of me? | |
| That I am a CHIAUS? | |
| Face. What’s that? | |
| Dap. The Turk [who] was here. | |
| As one would say, do you think I am a Turk? |
1639. FORD, The Lady’s Trial, II., i.
| Ful. Gulls or Moguls, | |
| Tag-rag or other, hogen-mogen, vanden, | |
| Skip-jacks or CHOUSES. |
1672. WYCHERLEY, Love in a Wood, I., i., wks. (1713), 343. You are no better than a CHOUSE, a cheat.
1673. WYCHERLEY, The Gentleman Dancing-Master, III., in wks. (1713), 295. He a dancing-master, he’s a CHOUCE, a cheat, a meer cheat.
1754. B. MARTIN, English Dictionary (2 ed.).
2. (Eton College).—A shame; an imposition.
1864. Athenæum. When an Eton boy says that anything is ‘a beastly CHOUSE,’ he means that it is a great shame; and when an Eton peripatetic tradesman is playful enough to call his customer ‘a little CHOUSER,’ he means that a leaf has been taken out of his own book by one on whom he has practised.
1883. J. BRINSLEY RICHARDS, Seven Years at Eton, ii. The boy … was told that what he had done was an ‘awful CHOUSE.’
Verb (colloquial).—To cheat. [For suggested derivation, see subs., sense 1.] Synonyms will be found under STICK.
1659. SHIRLEY, Honoria and Mammon, II., iii.
| Con. We are | |
| In a fair way to be ridiculous; | |
| What think you?—CHIAUS’D by a scholar! [M.] |
1663. PEPYS, Diary, May 15. The Portugalls have CHOUSED us, it seems, in the Island of Bombay, in the East Indys.
1708. CENTLIVRE, The Busy Body, Act iii. You and my most conscionable Guardian here … plotted and agreed, to CHOUSE a very civil, honest, honourable gentleman, out of a Hundred Pound.
1742–4. R. NORTH, The Lives of the Norths, I., 90. The judge held them to it, and they were CHOUSED of the treble value.
1823. JOHN CAMPBELL, Hints for Oxford, p. 26. Every thing in common use at Oxford, with the exception perhaps of books, is charged at an exorbitant rate; and, what is worse … you are often having yourself CHOUSED with abominable trash.
1890. Academy, Feb. 22, p. 125, col. 1. Susan Burney’s letters, with charming naïveté, confess that, in the expectation of an early visit from the delightful mimic, she for four mornings was up at seven o’clock, only to find herself, borrowing the slang phrases of the day, ‘CHOUSED, for he nick’d us entirely, and never came at all.’
So also CHOUSED, ppl. adj., CHOUSING, verbal subs., and CHOUSER, subs.
