"Chouse" Definition

Definitions for the word "Chouse" from multiple English dictionaries.

1. slang
to cheat out of one’s share or portion. _Hackluyt_, CHAUS; _Massinger_, CHIAUS. From the _Turkish_, in which language it signifies an interpreter. _Gifford_ gives a curious story as to its origin:— “In the year 1609 there was attached to the Turkish embassy in England an Interpreter, or CHIAOUS, who, by cunning, aided by his official position, managed to cheat the Turkish and Persian merchants, then in London, out of the large sum of £4000, then deemed an enormous amount. From the notoriety which attended the fraud, and the magnitude of the swindle, any one who cheated or defrauded was said to _chiaous_, or _chause_, or CHOUSE; to do, that is, as this _Chiaous_ had done.”—_See Trench, Eng. Past and Present._ CHIAUS, according to _Sandys_ (_Travels_, p. 48), is “one who goes on embassies, executes commandments,” &c. The particular Chiaus in question is alluded to in _Ben Jonson’s Alchymist_, 1610. “_D._ What do you think of me? That I am a CHIAUS? _Face._ What’s that? _D._ The Turk [who] was here. As one would say, do you think I am a Turk?”
Source: The Slang Dictionary, 1864

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