chouse (cho us)

[Also spelled chiaus, cha us (also chiao us, after F. chiaoux ), repr. Turk. chaush, chaush, an interpreter, me enger, etc., Hind. khawas, an attendant, etc., lit. grandees, nobles), prop. pl. of khās (s repr. letter sad ), noble. In senses 2, 3, and 4, the noun is from the verb.] 1. A Turkish interpreter, me enger, or attendant. IMG:content-0364.jpg:[blocks in formation] Accompanied with a cha us of the court. Hakluyt. The chaoush is a person of great authority in certain things; he is a kind of living firman, before whom every one makes way. R. Curzon , Monast. in the Levant, p. 9. 2. A trick; a sham; an imposition. Johnson. [Rare.]-3. An impostor; a cheat. This is the gentleman, and he's no chiaus. B. Jonson, Alchemist. 41. One who is easily cheated; a tool; a sim pleton. Sillier than a sottish chouse. S. Butler, Hudibras, III. iii. 531. var. of char, pearls. A Madras chow is 48 square grains troy, troy, a Bombay chow 15.7 square grains. chow-chow (chouchou), a. and n. [Pigeon English.] I. a. Mixed; miscellaneous; broken. Chow-chow box, a Japanese lacquered picnic or luncheon-box, with spaces for bottles, and trays or drawers for the various edibles, chop-sticks, etc., frequently richly decorated.- Chow-chow cargo, an a orted cargo.Chow-chow chop, the lot of smaller miscellaneous packages sent off in the last lighter or cargo-boat to a ve el loading in a roadstead or harbor.- Chow-chow shop, a general shop; a variety shop. - Chow-chow water, short, irregular waves, such as those made by the paddles propeller steamer, the meeting of currents a river, etc. II. n. 1. Food of any kind, but especially Chinese food, which is usually broken or cut up in the course of cooking into pieces suitable for being eaten with chop-sticks.-2. A preserve made in southern China, of odds and ends of orange-peel, ginger, bamboo, pumelo-rind, syrup, etc.-3. A mixed pickle made with mustard in the East Indies, and imitated elsewhere. chowder (chou der), n. [Origin unknown. In first sense perhaps chaudière , a caldron: see chalder , caldron . "In the fishing-villages of Britt any faire la chaudière is to provide a caldron in which is cooked a me of fish and biscuit with some savory condiments-a 'hodgepodge' contributed by the fishermen themselves, each of whom in return receives his share of the prepared dish. The French would seem to have carried this practice to America." N. and Q.] 1. A dish of fish or clams boiled with biscuits or crackers, pork, potatoes, onions, etc., and variously seasoned. It is common among the fishermen on the banks of Newfoundland and in New England.-2. A picnic party, especially at the sea-shore, at which the main dish is chowder. See def. 1. But when the crabbed nurce Beginnes to chide and chowre With heavie heart I take my course To seawarde from the towre. Turberville, tr. of Ovid (1567), fol. 122. ( Hall i well .)