Chapter CHOULTRY to CHOUSE of C by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

the Chaus still flourishes as an officer of a company. When I joined the Political Agency in that Province, there was a company of Arabs attached to the Residency under a Chaus.” (M.-Gen. Keatinge). [The N.E.D. thinks that “Gifford’s note must be taken with reserve.” The Stanf. Dict. adds that Gifford’s note asserts that two other Chiauses arrived in 1618-1625. One of the above quotations proves his accuracy as to 1618. Perhaps, however, the particular fraud had little to do with the modern use of the word. As Jonson suggests, chiaus may have been used for ‘Turk’ in the sense of ‘cheat’; just as Cataian stood for ‘thief’ or ‘rogue.’ For a further discussion of the word see N. & Q., 7 ser. vi. 387; 8 ser. iv. 129.] 1560.—“Cum vero me taederet inclusionis in eodem diversorio, ago cum meo Chiauso (genus id est, ut tibi scripsi alias, multiplicis apud Turcas officii, quod etiam ad oratorum custodiam extenditur) ut mihi liceat aere meo domum conducere.…”—Busbeq. Epist. iii. p. 149.

1610.—“Dapper.…What do you think of me, that I am a chiaus?

Face. What’s that?

Dapper. The Turk was here.

As one would say, do you think I am a Turk?

Face. Come, noble doctor, pray thee let’s prevail;

This is the gentleman, and he’s no chiaus.” Ben. Jonson, The Alchemist, Act I. sc. i.

1638.—

“Fulgoso. Gulls or Moguls,
Tag, rag, or other, hogen-mogen, vanden,
Ship-jack or chouses. Whoo! the brace are flinched.

Ford, The Lady’s Trial, Act II. sc. i.

1619.—“Con gli ambasciatori stranieri che seco conduceva, cioè l’Indiano, di Sciah Selim, un ciausc Turco ed i Moscoviti.…”—P. della Valle, ii. 6.

1653.—“Chiaoux en Turq est vn Sergent du Diuan, et dans la campagne la garde d’vne Karauane, qui fait le guet, se nomme aussi Chiaoux, et cet employ n’est pas autrement honeste.”—Le Gouz, ed. 1657, p. 536.

1659.—

“Conquest. We are
In a fair way to be ridiculous.
What think you? Chiaus'd by a scholar.”

Shirley, Honoria & Mammon, Act II. sc. iii.

1663.—“The Portugals have choused us, it seems, in the Island of Bombay in the East Indys; for after a great charge of our fleets being sent thither with full commission from the King of Portugal to receive it, the Governour by some pretence or other will not deliver it to Sir Abraham Ship-man.”—Pepys, Diary, May 15; [ed. Wheatley iii. 125].

1674.—

“When geese and pullen are seduc’d
And sows of sucking pigs are chows'd.”

Hudibras, Pt. II. canto 3.

1674.—

“Transform’d to a Frenchman by my art;
He stole your cloak, and pick’d your pocket,
Chows’d and caldes’d ye like a blockhead.”

Ibid.

1754.—“900 chiaux: they carried in their hand a baton with a double silver crook on the end of it;…these frequently chanted moral sentences and encomiums on the SHAH, occasionally proclaiming also his victories as he passed along.”—Hanicay, i. 170.

1762.—“Le 27^e d’Août 1762 nous entendîmes un coup de canon du chateau de Kâhira, c’étoit signe qu’un Tsjaus (courier) étoit arrivé de la grande caravane.”—Niebuhr, Voyage, i. 171.

1826.—“We started at break of day from the northern suburb of Ispahan, led by the chaoushes of the pilgrimage.…”—Hajji Baba, ed. 1835, p. 6.