▪ I. chuck, n.1
(tʃʌk)
Also 4 chuk(ke, chokke.
[Echoic.]
1. A species of cluck: e.g. that made by a cock, or a hen calling chickens, or by people in calling fowls; also that made to incite a horse.
| c 1386 Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 354 He fly doun fro the beem..and eke hise hennes alle; And with a chuk [v.r. chukke, chokke] he gan hem for to calle. 1683 Temple Mem. Wks. 1731 I. 391 They made the Chuck four or five times that People use to make to Chickens when they call them. a 1791 Wesley Wks. (1830) XIII. 419 The parrot made the chuck that people use to make to chickens. 1860 Trollope Framley P. vi. 169 Made the coachman..give a chuck to his horses. |
2. A provincial name for the wheatear.
▪ II. chuck, n.2
(tʃʌk)
[In sense 1, taken by Dr. Johnson to be corrupted from chick, chicken: cf. the dialectal use in 2, also chuckie.]
1. A familiar term of endearment, applied to husbands, wives, children, close companions.
| 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 668 Sweet chuckes, beat not the bones of the buried. 1599 ― Hen. V, iii. ii. 26 Vse lenitie sweet Chuck. 1607 Barley-Breake (1877) 8, I tell thee, Chuck, thy Father doth disdaine, To see his child so ruffled by a knaue. 1628 Earle Microcosm. xxxvi. 80 One that does nothing without his chuck, that is his wife. 1770 Foote Lame Lover i. 24 Why not, chuck? 1845 E. Brontë Wuthering Heights xxxiv. 279 Will you come Chuck? 1866 Kingsley Herew. xix. 234 Little Winter, my chuck, my darling. |
2. Chick, chicken, fowl. north. dial. Also fig.
| 1675 Cotton Poet. Wks. (1765) 201 Such lucky chucks there's no great need on. 1785 Burns Jolly Beggars ix, But up arose the martial chuck, And laid the loud uproar. 1876 Mid-Yorksh. Gloss. (E.D.S.), Chuck..in the Craven dialect..a hen. 1878 N.W. Lincolnsh. Gloss., Chuck, a child's name for a hen. 1888 Sheffield Gloss., Chuck or chuckie, a domestic fowl. A word used by children. |
▪ III. chuck, n.3
(tʃʌk)
In 7 chock(e.
[Goes with chuck v.2; in sense 1 perh. immed. f. F. choc (see shock).]
1. A slight, sudden blow or upward tap under the chin.
| 1611 Cotgr., Mantonniere, a chocke, or bob vnder the chinne. Ibid. Haulse-bec..a blow, or chocke vnder the chinne. 1751 Smollett Per. Pic. (1779) II. xlv. 84 He gave his antagonist a chuck under the chin. 1840 Hood Kilmansegg cclxviii, There's a double chuck at a double chin. 1847 Le Fanu T. O'Brien 275 A few additional chucks by the throat. |
2. A short, abrupt movement, a toss, a jerk.
| c 1843 Sir C. Napier in Life (1885) vi. 206, I held half my reins..designing to give Red Rover a chuck that should put his head between me and the coming blow. 1861 Trollope Framley P. III. ix. 165 Griselda gave her head a little chuck which was produced by two different operations of her mind. |
3. a. A toss or throw from the hand (colloq.). spec. in Cricket, a thrown ball; an illegal delivery.
| 1862 F. Lillywhite Scores & Biogr. II. 30 Slow under⁓hand ‘chucks’. 1903 Wodehouse Tales of St. Austin's 22 Did you think that ball that bowled you was a chuck? 1966 New Statesman 1 July 26/3 One of Griffith's most effective deliveries was a (doubtless unconscious) ‘chuck’ which has now been umpired out of his repertoire. |
b. Dismissal, repudiation, ‘turning down’, esp. in phr. to give (someone or something) the chuck.
| 1892 G. & W. Grossmith Diary of Nobody vi. 88 If you want the good old truth, I've got the chuck! 1893 Fun 28 Jun. 262/1 The sentimental coster who is going to shoot himself because he has (as he expresses it) ‘got the chuck’ from his situation and is parted from his ‘dona’. 1909 Galsworthy Strife ii. ii, If you give up..to Harness, now, it's givin' us the chuck—to save your skins. 1926 Punch 26 May 559/2, I give your pills the chuck..And I am worse instead of better. 1928 A. Christie Myst. Blue Train xviii. 147, I have, how do you say it?—given them the chuck! 1930 Argosy Apr. 15/1 When they gave me the chuck, you married me out of hand. |
4. Short for chuck-farthing, and app. extended to other games of the nature of pitch-and-toss.
| 1711 Brit. Apollo III. No. 127. 3/2 These two being at the Game we call Chuck. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 509 ¶2 To chace the lads from chuck, that the beadle might seize their copper. 1741–3 Wesley Jrnl. (1749) 95 Men, women and children met together, to dance, fight, curse and swear, and play at chuck, ball, span-farthing, or whatever came next to hand. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1852) II. 204 What is money good for? You cannot eat it..it is of none other use than to play at chuck, or spin upon a table to amuse a child. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 174 With chuck and marbles wearing Sunday through. |
5. Sc. One of the small rounded quartz pebbles used in the game of check-stone or ‘chuckie-stanes’; hence chucks a name of this game; ‘a marble used at the game of taw, Dumfr.’ (Jam.). Also chuckstone.
| 1822 Scott Nigel v, When a wise man is with fules and bairns, he maun e'en play at the chucks. 1827 Carlyle Germ. Rom. II. 115 Gravel, among which were..large bits of chuckstone, and other pebbles. 1879 Jamieson, Chuckie-stanes, chucks, a game played by girls. A number of pebbles are spread on a flat stone; one of them is tossed up, and a certain number must be gathered, and the falling one caught by the same hand. |
▪ IV. chuck, n.4
(tʃʌk)
[app. originally the same as chock, q.v. Chunk appears to be another variant.]
1. A lump; a large awkward-shaped piece of wood for burning, a chock; also of bread, meat, and the like, a chunk. Chiefly dial.
| 1674 Ray S. & E. Country Wds. 61 Chuck, a great Chip, Suss.; in other Countreys they call it a chunk. 1736 Pegge Kenticisms (E.D.S.), Chuck..We mean more than a chip, viz. a short thick clubbed piece of wood, for burning. 1876 Gower Surrey Provinc. (E.D.S.), Chucks, large chips of wood. Called ‘chats’ in the Cotswold dialect. 1881 R. Buchanan God & Man I. 20 Chucks of home-made cake. 1887 Parish & Shaw Kentish Dial., Chuck, a chip; a chunk; a short, thick clubbed piece of wood; a good thick piece of bread and cheese. |
2. See quot. 1881.
| 1723 J. Nott Cook's Dict. No. 77 B To sauce Beef, take either Buttock, Chuck or Brisket of Beef. 1747 H. Glasse Art of Cookery xxi. 160 A Bullock..The Fore-Quarter..the Chuck-Piece,..and Middle Rib, which is called the Chuck-Rib. Ibid., The Hind-Quarter..the Chuck-bone, Buttock and Leg. 1798 Ann. Agric. XXX. 314 Blade-bones chuck. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 171 In the fore quarter, the fore rib, middle rib, and chuck-rib, are all roasting pieces [of beef]. 1881 G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk., Chuck, a cut of beef extending from the horns to the ribs, including the shoulder-piece. 1884 Harper's Mag. July 299/1 ‘Extra mess’ is composed of chucks, plates, rumps, and flanks. 1886 Illust. Lond. News 9 Oct. 370/3 Chuck-steak, In the Midland Counties, three ribs of beef nearest to the neck, cut straight down the fore-quarter to about half way through the shoulder blade. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Mag.) 17 Feb. 22/2 Chuck beef roast with macaroni. |
3. A boat-chock; = chock n. 3.
| 1789 G. Vassa Life (1792) 260 Two boats were washed from the booms, and the long-boat from the chucks. |
4. A contrivance for holding work in a lathe, screwing machine, or drilling machine, while being operated upon: an instrument screwed into the nose of the mandrel of a lathe by which the work is held, while being turned; formerly chock. magnetic chuck, a chuck operating by magnetism.
| 1703–1794 [See chock]. 1807 O. Gregory Mech. II. 472 On the end of the spindle..is screwed occasionally a universal Chuck for holding any kind of work which is to be turned. 1816 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art I. 60 The work..is fastened to a wooden chuck by cement, or by glue, or screwed into it. 1879 Holtzapffel Turning IV. 185 Lathe chucks may..be divided into two principal groups. Ibid. IV. 196 Motion is transmitted by the contact of an arm or pin, the driver, on the chuck. 1909 in Cent. Dict. Suppl. 1922 Glazebrook Dict. Appl. Physics II. 323/1 Recently, magnetic chucks have come much into use in connection with shaping machines, lathes and other workshop machines. 1958 Van Nostrand's Sci. Encycl. (ed. 3) 344/2 Magnetic chucks of both the electrically-actuated and the permanent-magnet type may also be employed on the lathe. |
Hence chuck lathe.
| 1888 Eng. Mech. XLVII. 341 A great quantity of articles are made in the chuck lathe by a scraping process. |
▪ V. chuck, n.5 slang or dial. Now chiefly in U.S. informal use.
(tʃʌk)
[perh. the same as chuck n.4]
1. Food, ‘grub’. (In early use spec. bread or ship-biscuit.) See also chuck waggon.
| 1850 Lloyd's Newsp. 6 Oct. (Farmer), The prisoner, upon coming to his cottage door had tried hard to get some chuck out of him, but had failed. 1860 Hotten Dict. Slang (ed. 2), Chuck, food, provision for an entertainment.—Norwich. 1864 Standard 13 Dec. (Farmer), Of naval slang Mr. Hotten has missed the words Chuck, used by sailors for biscuit, and Barge, the box or cask in which the chuck is kept by the messes on the lower deck. 1877 W. H. Thomson Five Yrs.' Penal Servitude i. 4 Two large slices of bread,..the allowance given out to some prisoner who..had forgotten to eat what in prison slang is called his ‘toke’ or ‘chuck’. 1936 ‘J. Curtis’ Gilt Kid iv. 40 A girl who was eating her chuck like a navvy. |
| attrib. 1903 A. Adams Log Cowboy xviii. 280 He was riding the chuckline all right. 1905 ― Outlet 16 A carpenter then at work building chuck-boxes for each of the six commissaries. 1926 J. Black You can't Win iv. 39 New arrivals, who had not yet acquired the ‘chuck horrors’, that awful animal craving for food that comes after missing half a dozen meals. 1970 Sunday Republican (Springfield, Mass.) 26 Apr. 51/1 Under canvas.., only so much can be crammed into chuck box or cabinet. |
2. The act of taking food; a meal, meal-time.
| 1865 Harper's Mag. Feb. 325/1 [I] finished chuck on twelve o'clock. 1901 M. E. Ryan Montana i. 25 After ‘chuck’ we'll go over and give you a nearer view of the tribe on the other shore. 1907 S. E. White Arizona Nights i. vi. 112 When the last man had returned from chuck, Homer made the dispositions for the cut. |
▪ VI. chuck, n.6 Canada.
(tʃʌk)
[Chinook Jargon.]
A large body of water.
| 1880 G. M. Dawson Rep. Queen Charlotte Islands 30 The most considerable is that which has been called the Slate Chuck on the chart. 1958 Beaver (Canada) Winter 26/2 A mother in Stanley Park scolds, ‘Johnny, throw that dirty stick in the chuck.’ |
▪ VII. chuck, v.1
[Echoic: cf. chuck n.1]
1. intr. To make a clucking noise like a fowl, or that used by henwives in calling fowls.
| c 1386 Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 362 He chukketh, whan he hath a corn yfounde, And to hym rennen thanne hise wiues alle. 1601 Bp. Barlow Eagle & Body (1609) D iij a, Others..chucking and crying ouer the prey which they haue found dead. a 1700 Dryden Cock & Fox 441 He chucked again, when other corns he found. 1863 N. Macleod in Gd. Words 150 Waddling about and chucking among her numerous family of poultry. |
2. with compl. (trans.) To call (together) by making this noise.
| a 1700 Dryden Cock & Fox 430 Then crowing clapped his wings..To chuck his wives together in the hall. |
† 3. intr. To chuckle; to laugh inwardly. Obs.
| 1598 Florio, Gongolare, to laugh at the hart till it be sore, or shoulders ake, to chuck. 1598 Marston Sat. i. 139 Who would not chuck to see such pleasing sport? 1599 ― Sco. Villanie iii. xi. 230 And then he chukes, and is as proud of this As Taphus when he got his neighbours blisse. |
4. intr. To incite (a horse) by a well-known palatal cluck used for the purpose.
| 1843 Lever J. Hinton xxxvii. (1878) 254, I flogged and chucked the old beast..up the rising ground. |
▪ VIII. chuck, v.2
(tʃʌk)
[In 16th c. chock; of uncertain origin; cf. F. choquer in sense to give a shock to, to knock; but prob. mainly onomatopœic.]
1. ‘To give a gentle blow under the chin, so as to make the mouth strike together’ (J.); to give ‘a bob under the chin’ (Cotgr.).
| 1583 Golding Calvin on Deut. lxxxvi. 532 They were stil chockt vnder the chinne. 1594 J. Dickenson Arisbas (1878) 62 She would vse oft his company, kisse him, coll him, check him, chuck him. 1658 S. Lennard tr. Charron's Wisd. i. lii. (1670) 188 You chock them under the chin. 1692 Wagstaffe Vind. Carol. xii. 84 A prudent Father, who seldom chucks one Child more than another. 1752 Fielding Amelia ix. ii, The doctor smiled on the child..chucking him under the chin. 1881 Besant & Rice Chapl. of Fleet ii. iii. (1883) 137 You and I..do not want to chuck farmers' daughters under the chin. |
2. a. To throw with the hand with little action of the arm; to throw underhand; to toss; prob. at first said of throwing or tossing money, or anything light; now used somewhat playfully or contemptuously of heavy things, as suggesting that they are thrown with ease or contempt; by workmen substituted for throw in all senses; spec. in Cricket, to bowl illegally, with the action of a chucker 4; also intr. Cf. chuck n.3 3.
| 1593 Prodigal Son iv. 112 Yes, this old one will I give you (Chucks him old hose and doublet). 1627 Drayton Agincourt 63 In the Tauerne, in his Cups doth rore, Chocking his Crownes. 1798 J. Jefferson MS. Let. 19 Mar. to Rev. J. Boucher, To chuck a stone, etc. = to throw. 1801 M. Edgeworth Knapsack (1832) 302 I've seen him chuck his money at those poor children. 1825 Bro. Jonathan III. 13 They'll cut our throats..chuck us into the sea. 1843 Sheffield Independent 23 Sept. 7/2 Instead of throwing his ball..with some degree of force, he commenced ‘chucking’ them gently. 1846 Lytton Lucretia (1853) 261 He chucked the rein to the ostler. 1862 Kingsley Water Bab. ii, It seemed as if he could have chucked a pebble on to the back of the woman in the red petticoat. 1862 Mrs. Browning Died in Last Poems 70 We chuck our flattery or abuse..I' the teeth of some dead sage or fool. 1878 Tennyson Q. Mary iii. i. 85 England now Is but a ball chuck'd between France and Spain. 1903 Wodehouse Tales of St. Austin's 21 ‘No ball,’ he shouted..‘it seemed to me that you chucked that time.’ |
b. In colloq. use with adverbs away, down, over, up, etc. chuck up (the sponge), said of a second in a prize-fight; hence, to give in, give up, yield: see sponge; also to chuck up: to abandon, dismiss; to throw over, jilt; to chuck in the towel: see towel n. (chuck it is also said for chuck it up.) to chuck out: to eject, discharge, get rid of, throw out (from a public meeting, a theatre, a position or post, etc.); cf. chucker-out, chucker1 3.
| 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 25 Up he'd chuck sacks as one would hurl a stone. 1841 F. A. Kemble Let. 29 July in Records of Later Life (1882) II. 110 My horse..tore off with me..there was a fair chance of my being chucked off. 1850 J. H. Newman Diffic. felt by Anglicans ii. §9 Though the minister baptized without water, though he chucked away the consecrated wine. 1864 Hotten Slang Dict., Chuck up, to surrender, give in—from the custom of throwing up the sponge at a prize fight in token of yielding. 1866 ― Dream Geront. iv, Chuck'd down by the sheer might of a despot's will. 1869 R. D. Blackmore Lorna Doone vi. 66 No boy or young man on our farm durst ever get into a saddle, because they all knew that the master would chuck them out pretty quickly. 1873 Slang Dict., Chuck in, to challenge—from the pugilistic custom of throwing a hat into the ring. Obs. Chuck up, to surrender, give in, from the custom of throwing up the sponge at a prize-fight in token of yielding. 1878 Chambers's Jrnl. 333/2 A stalwart navvy,..after crossing the Danube several times at Alexandra Park, declared he must ‘chuck it up’ if he could not be a Turk. 1881 Grant Cameronians I. vii. 100 Cut in for the girl, if you are determined to chuck yourself away. 1883 M. E. Braddon Phantom Fortune xxv, Look how easily she chucked you up because she did not think you good enough. 1884 Cheshire Gloss. (E.D.S.), Chuck over, to discard, to disinherit. 1885 Daily News 27 Nov. 2 The town artisan is ready enough to chuck out an obstructor. 1889 Times 4 Nov. 3/6 Some of them have got chucked out, your Worship, excuse the language. 1891 Wilde Dorian Gray v. 102, I have a great mind to chuck the whole thing up. 1893 National Observer 23 Sept. 483/1 That is a reason for living hopefully, not for ‘chucking it up’ in despair. 1917 A. Huxley Let. 8 Apr. (1969) 123, I am going to lie and chuck it up for a much better thing. 1926 Kipling in McCall's Mag. June 78/2 A young voice called from a desk. ‘Chuck it over!’ 1936 J. Tickell See how they Run xxiii. 318 Damn politics. Listen, I'll chuck it up and we'll go and live in Kerry. 1944 Auden For Time Being (1945) 58 Our reasons are silenced..Our wills chuck in their hands. 1958 Engineering 4 Apr. 424/1 Chuck out the conventional concepts. 1963 Times 21 Feb. 3/4, I do not like chucking money away. |
c. colloq. Without adverb, = to chuck out or up. In pass., to be acquitted or released. Also, to chuck it (see sense b).
| c 1879 Broadside Ballad (Farmer), Whatever may happen I get all the blame, Wherever I go, it is always the same—Jolly well chucked again! 1883 H. Smart Hard Lines xxvi, If you mean business, take my advice and chuck that corps. 1887 Horsley Jottings from Jail 24 Kit, from 7 dials..expects to get fulled or else chucked. 1888 H. R. Haggard Col. Quaritch vi. 95 He means to git the place at his own price or chuck it. 1890 Daily News 5 Dec. 7/1 ‘He's sure to get chucked’—a slang expression for discharged. 1891 W. Raleigh Let. 17 Sept. (1926) I. 162 We could always chuck it and work our day round again. 1901 Punch 31 July 88/2 Oh, chuck it! I never was any good at arithmetic! 1905 R. Broughton Waif's Progr. xxiii. 260 You promised to marry me... You cannot, and shall not chuck me. 1908 E. W. Walters Nipper ii, ‘Chuck it!’ snapped the ill-nourished boy. 1913 J. Stephens Here are Ladies ii. 102 One day he chucked his job. 1915 G. K. Chesterton Antichrist in Poems 89 But the souls of Christian peoples... Chuck it, Smith! 1922 N. & Q. XI. 206/2 If at some stage in a race a horse is seen to ‘shut up’, and refuse to gallop his best, it is said to ‘chuck it’. 1922 D. H. Lawrence England, my England (1924) 240 Serve you right if she chucks you now. 1929 D. G. Mackail How Amusing 525 He..concluded by asking her to chuck it all and marry him. 1932 Wodehouse Hot Water xiv. 238 I've a dashed good mind to chuck the whole thing. 1933 F. Stark Let. 18 Feb. in Beyond Euphrates (1951) 301 This is my last on official paper, as I chuck this job on Friday week. 1934 E. Waugh Handful of Dust iii. 121 You couldn't possibly chuck lunch or one of the lectures? 1954 T. S. Eliot Confid. Clerk ii. 65 He's the sort of fellow who might chuck it all And go to live on a desert island. |
d. chuck-and-chance-it: a derisive phrase used attrib. to describe wet-fly fishing.
| 1886 Longman's Mag. June 221 So let us return to the good Northern plan of ‘chuck and chance it’, wet. The use of the dry fly is a Utopian dream. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 12 May 3/2 A large proportion of anglers..regard with un⁓merited contempt that which they are pleased to miscall the ‘Chuck-and-chance-it system’. 1907 Ibid. 29 Nov. 3/1 Agreeing to scoff at every wet-fly angler as a mere chuck-and-chance-it angler. |
e. [perh. rather chuck v.1] to chuck off, to chaff, speak sarcastically, sneer at. Used absol. Austral. and N.Z. slang.
| 1915 C. J. Dennis Songs Sentim. Bloke (1916) 119 Chuck off, to chaff; to employ sarcasm. 1915 E. G. Pilling Anzac Memory 21 Jan. (1933) 119 Everyone is eating my lollies. They chuck off when a parcel of lollies arrives, but none are lacking on the eating stakes. 1941 Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 18 Chuck off at, to sneer at, chaff. |
† 3. intr. [cf. chuck n.3 2.] Obs.
| 1705 Vanbrugh Confed. ii. i, Something will make your heart chuck within you. |
4. intr. To play chuck-farthing.
| 1735 Pope Donne Sat. iv. 146 Shortly no lad shall chuck, or lady vole, But some excising Courtier will have toll. 1775 Ash, Chock, to play at pitching money into a hole. |
5. In combination with a n., forming names of games, as chuck-farthing; also chuck-board (see quot.); chuck-button, pitch and toss played with buttons; chuck-halfpenny, = chuck-farthing; chuck-hole, (a) = chuck-farthing; (b) ‘a deep hole in a waggon-rut’ (Webster); = chock-hole.
| 1880 Jefferies Gt. Estate 67 In the ‘tap’ of an evening you might see the labourers playing at ‘chuck-board’, which consists in casting a small square piece of lead on to certain marked divisions of a shallow tray-like box. 1863 Teacher's Monthly Mag. Nov. 352 When he discovered children playing at chuck-button he knew that their next step would be toss-penny. 1801 Strutt's Sports & Past. iv. §7 (1881) 493 Even or odd—Chuck-halfpenny—Duck and Drake. 1837 Boston, Lincoln, etc. Herald 21 Feb. 3/5 ‘What money?’..‘Why, that what I won o' ya' at Chuck-hole!’ |
▪ IX. chuck, v.3 Turning.
(tʃʌk)
[f. chuck n.4]
To fix on the lathe by means of a chuck, q.v.
| 1869 Eng. Mech. 17 Dec. 334/2 The wood requires to be chucked..for boring. 1881 Metal World No. 8. 121 Chucking work on the lathe. |
▪ X. chuck, adv.
= chock; with direct impact.
| 1751 Smollett Per. Pic. (1779) I. xviii. 166 Of course he must be embayed and run chuck upon a lee-shore. 1841 Lever Chas. O'Malley lxviii. 335 Running the machine chuck against a wall. |
▪ XI. chuck
dial. var. of choke n.2