Chorister, subs. (Winchester).—See quots.
c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester (1866), 33. Besides the Warden, Fellows, masters, and boys, there were twelve “CHORISTERS,” who must by no means be omitted, as they formed an important part of the internal economy. I suppose they were called CHORISTERS because they had not to sing; certainly if ever that was a part of their duty, it had entirely lapsed. Their office was to wait on boys, in hall and chambers, till seven o’clock, and especially to go on errands in the town,—the boys themselves never being allowed to go there, except when invited by friends on Saints’ days. These little CHORISTERS wore chocolate-coloured tail-coats and trousers, with metal buttons; and, on the whole, I think their life must have been a weary one.... Ibid., 189. The CHORISTERS really do sing now, and have not to run errands in the town for boys, but wait on them in the hall instead.
1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 22. The Bible-clerk meanwhile reading aloud a chapter from the Old Testament, the CHORISTERS waited at table. An antiphonal grace and psalm were sung, after which the CHORISTERS and college servants took their dinner.
Chouse, subs. (Eton and Winchester).—A shame; an imposition. Hence CHOUSER. [A derivative of chouse = trick; swindle: see quot. 1890.]
1864. Athenæum. When an Eton boy says that anything is “a beastly CHOUSE,” he means that it is a great shame; and when an Eton peripatetic tradesman is playful enough to call his customer “a little CHOUSER,” he means that a leaf has been taken out of his own book by one on whom he has practised.
1883. Brinsley Richards, Seven Years at Eton. The boy ... was told that what he had done was an awful CHOUSE.
1890. Hist. Eng. Dict. [Murray], s.v. CHOUSE. “As to the origin of the Eng. use, Gifford (1814), in a note on the quot. from Ben Jonson, says, ‘In 1609, Sir Robt. Shirley sent a messenger or CHIAUS to this country, as his agent from the Grand Signior and the Sophy to transact some preparatory business.’ The latter ‘CHIAUSED the Turkish and Persian merchants of £4000,’ and decamped. But no trace of this incident has yet been found outside of Gifford’s note; it was unknown to Peter Whalley, a previous editor of Ben Jonson, 1756; also to Skinner, Henshaw, Dr. Johnson, Todd, and others who discussed the history of the word. Yet most of these recognised the likeness of CHOUSE to the Turkish word, which Henshaw even proposed as the etymon on the ground that the Turkish CHIAUS ‘is little better than a fool.’ Gifford’s note must therefore be taken with reserve.”
Christians, subs. pl. (Cambridge).—Fellows of Christ’s College. [Derivation obvious.]
Christopher (Eton).—An old inn in Eton Street.
1865. Etoniana, 23. On the great festivals ... they had permission to spend part of the day in a country walk; not without a strong caution (so similar are the temptations of schoolboys and the anxieties of masters in all ages) against turning into taverns and beer-shops by the way. The “Tap” and the CHRISTOPHER had their earlier prototypes....