chit

Noun (1)

chit (plural chits)

1. A child or babe; a young, small, or insignificant person or animal.
   • Madam was a little chit of a woman, not five feet in her highest headdress and shoes, and Mr. Washington a great tall man of six feet two.1859, William Makepeace Thackeray, The Virginians, Chapter VI
   • “These are returns,” I said, “quite fit
     To me, who nursed you when a chit.
     For shame, lay by this envious art;
     Is this to act a sister's part?”1922, Petronius Arbiter, translated by W. C. Firebaugh, Satyricon, Chapter 56
2. A pert or sassy young person, especially a young woman.
   • Hilda drove in silence for some time after this piece of unheard-of insolence from that chit Connie.1928, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter XVII, in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, [Germany?]: Privately printed, →OCLC, page 305

Noun (2)

chit (plural chits)

1. The embryonic growing bud of a plant.
   • Near-synonyms: shoot, sprout, seedling
   • the chits of Indian corn or of potatoes

   Synonyms:

   shoot, sprout, seedling

2. (obsolete) An excrescence on the body, as a wart or a pimple.

Verb

chit (third-person singular simple present chits, present participle chitting, simple past and past participle chitted)

1. (UK, dialectal, intransitive) To sprout; to shoot, as a seed or plant.
   • I have known it chit in seven hours after it had been thrown forth of the Cistern and within three days come enough; the Maltster being forced to stir it six, seven or eight times a day,1721, John Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry: Or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land, page 217
2. (UK, dialectal, transitive) To damage the outer layers of a seed such as Lupinus or Sophora to assist germination.
3. (UK, dialectal, transitive) To initiate sprouting of tubers, such as potatoes, by placing them in special environment, before planting into the soil.
   • Gardeners argue among themselves about how necessary chitting is, but I stick with tradition and do chit my seed potatoes.2010, Geoff Stebbings, Growing Your Own Fruit and Veg For Dummies, page 173

Noun (3)

chit (plural chits)

1. (UK, dated, dialectal) A small sheet or scrap of paper with a hand-written note as a reminder or personal message.
2. (UK, dialectal, historical) A voucher or token coin used in payrolls under the truck system.

   Synonyms:

   chitty, scrip, tommy

3. (UK, dialectal) A small sheet of paper on which is written a prescription to be filled; a scrip.
4. (UK, dialectal) A smaller cardboard counter generally used not to directly represent something but for another, more transient, purpose such as tracking or randomization.
   • 1.4.3 Also on the board, but turned face down at the beginning of the game, are chits representing treasure sites and sounds and warnings of monsters that may arrive on the map. When characters end a turn in the hex, these chits are revealed. As characters move around the board, more and more of...2005, Richard Hamblen, Teresa Michelsen, Stephen McKnight, The unofficial, updated Third Edition of the Magic Realm Rules
5. (China, India, Philippines, UK, dialectal) A signed voucher or memorandum of a small debt, as for food and drinks at a club.
   • He just longed to get away from here and try his luck somewhere else, but for the sake of his sister he hung on and on till he ran himself into debt over his ears—I can tell you. I, myself, could show a handful of his chits for meals and drinks in my drawer.1901, Falk, by Joseph Conrad
   • The "chit system" needs special explanation. Throughout the Far East, the practice prevails of not paying for an article upon purchase. Where the soldier asks for "jawbone," the civilian usually asks to sign a "chit." In a restaurant you sign the check the waiter brings you instead of paying. You...1913, Maurice P. Dunlap, “What Americans Talk In the Philippines”, in The American Review of Reviews, volume 48, page 202
6. (Philippines, UK, dialectal) A restaurant bill or check
   • When asking for the bill or chit in a Philippine restaurant, you can make use of hand signals if the waiter is quite far off.2007, Manuel Viloria, Asking for the Bill in a Philippine Restaurant, YouTube
7. (UK, US, dialectal, slang) A debt or favor owed in return for a prior loan or favor granted, especially a political favor.
   • Harry would call in a chit with some desk manager who owed him a favor.2003, Linda Fairstein, The Bone Vault, Scribner, page 98
   • Bill Clinton’s connections, and his endless supply of chits, only begin to capture his singular role in his wife’s presidential candidacy, advisers and friends of the couple say. […] And he is cashing in chits for her that Mr. Gore, post-impeachment, never asked him to do.2007 May 13, Patrick Healy, “In New Role, Senator Clinton’s Strategist in Chief”, in New York Times

Noun (4)

chit (plural chits)

1. (UK, dialectal) A small tool used in cleaving laths. Compare: froe.
   • Then lastly (with their Chit) they cleave their Laths into their thicknesses, by the Quarter Grain, which is that Grain which is seen to run in strait Lines towards the Pith.1734, The Builder’s Dictionary: Or, Architect’s Companion, volume II
   • This should be specially selected, cut into lengths, and split by wedges into bolts, with a dowel axe into fittings, and with a chit split into laths.1905, William Millar, Plastering, Plain and Decorative, page 90

Noun (5)

chit (uncountable)

1. (UK, US, dialectal, euphemistic, slang) Shit.

Interjection

1. (UK, US, dialectal, euphemistic, slang) Shit.