Read Dictionary of Contemporary Slang Online
Authors: Tony Thorne
checkers
n pl British
clothes. The term was employed by some teenagers in the 2000s decade. Its derivation is unclear but the same word has been a brand name used by various clothing manufacturers.
check out
vb
to die. The notion of leaving a hotel or motel has been carried over into an eternal context. An old euphemism in American English which is now international.
cheddar
1
adj
cheesy
. A pejorative vogue term in use in the USA and UK since around 2000.
cheddar
2
, cheddars
n American
money. An expression used on campus in the USA since around 2000.
I need to grab some cheddar before we hit the bars.
âDon't take all my cheddars.'
(Recorded, US student, 2003)
cheeba
n See
chiba
cheekies
n pl British
alcoholic drinks, especially pints of beer. The term, popular particularly in the southwest of England, was recorded in 2001. In 2004 the b3ta website reported its use in Australia.
cheese
1
n Australian
one's partner or one's wife.
See also
cheese and kisses
cheese
2
1.
n
a cheese, the cheese
an important person. This is a shortened version of the colloquial âbig cheese'.
2.
n
something or someone unpleasant or unsavoury, particularly distasteful bodily secretions. From the smell and texture of ripe cheese.
3.
n
,
exclamation British
another spelling and/or pronunciation of
chiz!
4.
n
a Dutch person. A humorous or derogatory term heard in one form or another (âcheese-head' or âJohn Cheese' are alternatives) since the 19th century.
cheese
3
, cheez
n American
money, in the argot of hip hop aficionados, teenagers and students.
Cheddar
and
fetta
are synonyms.
cheese and kisses
n Australian
one's wife. This rhyming slang for
the missus
is probably the origin of the synonymous
cheese
and
old cheese
, referring to a mother.
cheeseball
n
an unsavoury or contemptible person. An allpurpose term of abuse borrowing the name of the cocktail biscuit and the notion of
cheesy
.
cheese it
vb American
to beware, hide or run away. This old phrase, normally used in the form of an exclamation such as âcheese it â the cops!', has become a comic cliché in the USA. It may once have been used by members of the underworld (in Britain) or it may be a pre-1900 invention by writers or journalists. In any case it is actually heard in use today, usually somewhat facetiously by adults and straightforwardly by children.
cheesin'
n American
smiling. The term is used in, e.g.,
rap
lyrics.
cheesy
adj
a.
unpleasant, unsavoury, squalid, disreputable, underhanded. The original notion of smelly cheese has encompassed a number of nuances of distaste. The word became extremely fashionable in 1990s youth slang.
a cheesy place
a cheesy thing to do
âIt was a degrading, lying, cheating piece of cheesiness.'
(John Lydon [characterising Alec Cox's film
Sid and Nancy
], BBC television, 1989)
b.
outdated and/or in poor taste in a pleasant or amusing way
cheesy quaver
n British
1.
a
raver
, in the sense of a devotee of post-1980s dance culture
2.
a
favour
The rhyming slang borrows the name of a savoury snack.
cheez
adj British
âreally good'. The term was recorded in playground use in East London in 2009.
chenzed
adj British
exhausted (or sometimes, intoxicated)
The origin of this expression is mysterious: it could simply be an invention from nowhere but, despite what many think, such a thing is almost unheard of in English, even in slang. Despite looking exotic and odd â after all that's part of the point â virtually all examples of youth argot are traceable back to a logical source â typically to Afro-Caribbean patois,
hip hop
street-talk, pop lyrics, videogaming jargon, rhyming or back-slang. Being dead tired is a major preoccupation of pubescents and adolescents, so âyoof-speak' has a vast range of synonyms for what British grownups know as
knackered
, many of which double as synonyms for drunk or
high
on illicit substances. First recorded by a language researcher in 2006, one user told me this one was Chinese, someone else that it was a misspelling, but they didn't know of what. It seems to be especially popular outside the South East, so could it be from regional dialect? If you think you know its true etymology, please share it with this writer.
No way am I going out partying tonight, I'm totes chenzed.
cherries
n pl American
flashing lights on a police car. âHit the cherries!' is the command to turn them on.
cherry
1
n
1a.
South African
an attractive young female. Recorded as an item of Sowetan slang in the
Cape Sunday Times
, 29 January 1995.
2.
British
the tip of a lit cigarette
cherry
2
adj
new, fresh and attractive. A term used by teenagers and young adults since the 1970s in the USA and subsequently elsewhere. It evokes both the shininess of the fruit and the figurative sense of virginity.
cherry
3
, cherry up
vb British
to blush. In playground usage since 2000.
Cheryl Cole, Cheryl
n British
1.
the dole, unemployment benefit payments. The rhyming slang, heard in 2011, borrows the name of the TV celebrity.
She's been on the Cheryl for more than a year.
2.
rhyming slang for a hole
There's a Cheryl appeared in the middle of the road.
Chevy Chase
n British
the
face
. The rhyming-slang phrase uses the name of the US comic actor, who borrowed the name of a suburb of Washington DC (itself named after the site of a battle in Northumberland, UK).
chew (someone) out, chew (someone's) ass, chew
vb American
to chastise, tell off, give someone a severe âdressing-down'. A colloquial expression heard typically in educational institutions and the armed services.
chi-ack, chi-ike, chiake
vb
to tease or taunt. A rather dated term derived from âto cheek'. It has been more common in Australia where the noun form, meaning impudence or insolence, is also heard.
chiba
n
cannabis, marihuana. A fashionable term heard among
hip hop
and
rap
aficionados since the early 1990s. It was first recorded in the 1970s and may derive from Hispanic slang.
Chicano
n
a Mexican American.
Méjicano
or
Méxicano
in Spanish has been anglicised to this word which, by the 1980s, had few pejorative overtones. It has to a large extent been superseded by
Latino
or âHispanic'.
chi-chi
adj
excessively cute, pretentious or twee. The word is a direct borrowing from French.
chi-chi man
n Caribbean
a homosexual male
âThe worst thing is when you see children of three or four singing songs about killing the chi-chi man.'
(
Guardian
, 26 June 2004)
chick
n
a.
a girl, girlfriend. The word has been used as a term of affection for hundreds of years, but was readopted by British slang from America in the
teddy boy
era. It was used unself-consciously by
hippies
until the mid-1970s, since when it has been disapproved of by the majority of women. The term is now dated.
âThis year two chicks and I got enough bread together and flew to Eilat (Israel) to see what was happening out there.'
(Reader's letter,
Oz
magazine, February 1970)
b.
American also
chickie, chicken
a passive homosexual partner or sodomised victim of a
rooster
. An American prison term of the 1970s and 1980s.
chicken
1
n
1.
a coward. In this sense the word has been in use for several centuries, although the children's taunt or exclamation was an Americanism of the early 1950s.
2a.
a young male who is, or is likely to be, preyed on by an older homosexual, in
gay
, police and prison usage.
Compare
chickenhawk
2b.
an underage girl as a sex object or partner in the jargon of pornography. (âChicken' was a common term of endearment, especially to a younger or vulnerable lover, in the 19th and early 20th centuries.)
2c.
a girl
3.
a game in which young people dare one another to attempt something dangerous (e.g. to stand in the path of an oncoming train or car); the chicken, or first to withdraw, is the loser. When motor vehicle races are involved
chicken run
is the usual phrase.
chicken
2
adj
afraid, cowardly
chickenhawk
n
a.
a male homosexual who âpreys on' younger men. This American term from the
gay
lexicon was given wider currency by press articles in the late 1980s when Scott Thurston, the entertainer Liberace's lover, referred to him as a chickenhawk in revelations after his death.
b.
a heterosexual seducer or exploiter of underage girls
âLolita at twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen â and chickenhawk Charlie [Chaplin] never far away, mistily watching the bud unfold.'
(
Hollywood Babylon
, Kenneth Anger, 1975)
chicken-head
n American
a foolish female
chicken run
n American
a teenage game in which drivers aim their cars at each other to see which one will swerve first;
chicken
is used here in the colloquial sense of coward(ly)
chickenshit
1
n
anything worthless, petty or contemptible. In American usage the word originally had the specific meaning of oppressive minor regulations and other effects of bureaucracy, particularly in the armed forces in World War II. The noun sense is now rarer than the adjectival use of the word, except when describing paltry amounts of money.
chickenshit
2
adj
a.
cowardly, afraid. An Americanism which was adopted in Britain, mainly by school-children and teenagers, in the late 1980s.
b.
petty, contemptible. This sense derives from the American and Canadian armed-forces' expression to describe small-minded regulations, orders, etc.
chief
1
, chief-bod
n
a foolish or obnoxious individual, a misfit. A vogue term from the language of adolescent gangs, also recorded in the late 1980s among aficionados of dance culture. The term was in use among North London schoolboys in 1993 and 1994. (âChief' occurs in North American usage, the âbod' form is exclusively British.)
chief
2
adj British
stupid or pretentious. The adjectival use has been fashionable among younger speakers across the UK since the late 1990s.
chill
1
vb
1.
to kill someone. A âtough-guy' euphemism originating in US street slang.
âTeachers report that teenagers talk about “packing a barrel” or “chilling someone with a pipe”.'
(
Sunday Times
, 31 August 1992)
2.
to relax, become calm. This shortening of the earlier
chill out
(itself adopted from American usage) became popular among British adolescents during the 1990s.
chill 92 chill
2
adj
1.
relaxed, relaxing, unstressed. Derived from the verb form, this adolescent vogue term has been in use since the 1990s.
feeling chill
a chill party
2.
American
excellent. An expression used on campus in the USA since around 2000.
Hey, your new car is chill.
chillax
vb American
to âtake it easy'. A blend of
chill
and relax first used by younger speakers in the USA, later adopted elsewhere, even, embarrassingly, by some adults.