ˈchinchy, a. Now chiefly U.S. colloq.
Also 5 chynchy, 7 chichie.
[f. chinch as n. + -y.]
Niggard, stingy.
| c 1400 Rom. Rose 6005 Riche chynchy grede. 1406 Hoccleve Misrule 134 Chinchy herte hath ther of but small. 1653 Urquhart Rabelais i. liv, Chichie sneakbil rogues. 1915 Dialect Notes IV. 214 We agents think the Security Mutual's chinchy but I reckon it's a good thing for the policy holders. 1952 H. Sinclair Music out of Dixie iii. 71, I aims for the piano player to stay on the stool an' earn his pay. Same time, I don't aim to be chinchy. 1961 F. G. Cassidy Jamaica Talk vi. 123 Chinchy, in this sense, is still very much alive in the American south (Georgia and other states), therefore not a Jamaicanism. |