- chapbook
- 1824, shortened from chap(man) book, so called because chapmen (see cheap) sold such books on the street.
- chap (v.)
- "to crack," early 15c., chappen, variant of choppen (see chop). The noun meaning "fissure in the skin" is from late 14c.
- chap (n.)
- 1577, "customer," short for obsolete chapman (see cheap). Colloquial sense of "lad, fellow" is first attested 1716 (cf. slang tough customer).
- Caucasus
- mountain range between Europe and the Middle East, from Gk. kaukhasis, said by Pliny ("Natural History," book six, chap. XVII) to be from a Scythian word similar to kroy-khasis, lit. "(the mountain) ice-shining, white with snow." But possibly from a Pelasgian root *kau- meaning "mountain."
- bimbo
- 1919, "fellow, chap," from It. variant of bambino "baby," first in Italian-accented theater dialogue. Originally especially "stupid, inconsequential man, contemptible person;" by 1920 the sense of "floozie" had developed (popularized by "Variety" staffer Jack Conway, d.1928). Resurrection during 1980s U.S. sex scandals led to derivatives including dim. bimbette (1990) and male form himbo (1988).
- shave (n.)
- 1604, "something shaved off;" from shave (v.); O.E. sceafa meant "tool for shaving." Meaning "a grazing touch" is recorded from 1834. Shaver "one who shaves" is recorded from c.1425; sense of "fellow, chap" is slang from 1592; phrase a close shave is from 1856, on notion of "a slight, grazing touch."
- joke
- 1670, joque, "a jest, something done to excite laughter," from L. jocus "joke, sport, pastime," from PIE base *yek- "to speak" (cf. Bret. iez "language," O.H.G. jehan "to say," Ger. Beichte "confession"). Originally a colloquial or slang word. Meaning "something not to be taken seriously" is 1791. Joker, meaning "odd face card in the deck" is from 1885, probably from earlier slang sense of "man, fellow, chap" (1811).
"American manufacturers of playing-cards are wont to include a blank card at the top of the pack; and it is, alas! true that some thrifty person suggested that the card should not be wasted. This was the origin of the joker." ["St. James's Gazette," 1894]
Practical joke "trick played on someone for the sake of a laugh at his expense" is from 1804.