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Chivy
A chase in the school game of “Prisoners' Base” or “Prison
Bars.” Probably a gipsy word. One boy sets a chivy, by leaving his bar,
when one of the opposite side chases him, and if he succeeds in
touching him before he reaches “home,” the boy touched becomes a
prisoner.
Chivy
or Chivvy. Slang for the face. Much slang is due to
rhyme, and when the rhyme is a compound word the rhyming part is
sometimes dropped and the other part remains. Thus Chivy [Chevy]-chase
rhymes with “face,” by dropping “chase” chivy remains, and
becomes the accepted slang word. Similarly, daisies=boots, thus:
daisy-roots will rhyme with “boots,” and by dropping “roots,” the
rhyme, daisy remains. By the same process sky is the
slang for pocket, the compound word which gave birth to it being
“sky-rocket.”
“Christmas” the slang for a railway guard, as “Ask the Christmas,”
is, of course, from the rhyme
“Christmas-card”; and “raspberry” the slang for heart, is from the
rhyme “raspberry-tart.”
Then came a knock at the Rory o'More [door],
Which made my raspberry beat.
Other examples given under their proper heads.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894 More on Chivy from Infoplease:
- Chivy - Chivy A chase in the school game of “Prisoners' Base” or “Prison Bars.” ...
- chivvy: meaning and definitions - chivvy: Definition and Pronunciation
- chevy: meaning and definitions - chevy: Definition and Pronunciation
- Daisies - Daisies Slang for boots. Explained under CHIVY. Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham ...
- O'Lynn - O'Lynn (Brian.) Slang for gin. (See Chivy.) Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham ...
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