chippy

noun

1. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, slang)A carpenter.

   “Then, when ah wis apprenticed as a chippy wi a Gorgie builder, ah goes along tae Telford College tae dae ma national certificate modules in joinery.”

2. (US, Western, slang)A prostitute or promiscuous woman.

   “I manage to pick up a living in spite of the damn chippies. I don't see why the hell they don't go into the business regular and make something out of it, instead of loving free.”

   “Don't worry chippy, nobodys gonna hurtya. Maybe fuckya a little[…]”

   “$80 for a chippy? I can get a goddamn horse for $50!”

   “I give the pictures of the wife and the lawn boy to the husband. I give the pictures of the husband and the chippy to the wife.”

   “Canby hints that, even with chippies, sexual intercourse was rare; even putting aside his complete lack of regard for the chippy as an actual human being, however, this passage makes clear that whatever did occur with these chippies may not have been as consensual as he presumed.⁷²”

3. (Ireland, UK, informal)A fish-and-chip shop.

   “Huge queues form outside the Chippy, often stretching back to the Coop and beyond.”

   “Albert was flabbergasted. Yer really buyin′ a chippy?” Tom smiled whilst nodding his head. “That′s me plan.””

4. (Australia, slang)The youngest member of a team or group, normally someone whose voice has not yet deepened, talking like a chipmunk.
5. (New-Zealand, colloquial)A potato chip.

   “why fish? for food so we can have it in our chippies”

6. (informal)A chiptune.
7. (US)A chipping sparrow.

   “In due time a nest-full of little chippies appear to be nourished with insectiverous^([sic]) food from a parental beak until fledged and able to look after themselves.”

   “Surely no young chippy was ever so stout and so emphatic as this bird. The funny part of it all is that the starling appears to make the chippies do whatever it pleases.”

   “How early in the season does the chippy appear and where does it spend the winter?”

8. (slang)An occasional drug habit, less than addiction.

adj

1. (Canada, UK)Ill-tempered, disagreeable.

   “To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, / In a pestilential prison, with a life-long lock, / Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock, / From a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block!”

   “There was something so irksome about Barry Groom that he had a fascination: you longed for him to annoy you again. He was incredibly chippy, was that the thing?—all his longings came out as a kind of disdain for what he longed for.”

2. (Canada, US)Involving violence or unfair play.

   “2007, Canadian Interuniversity Sport, cisport.ca, The University of Lethbridge Pronghorns and University of Saskatchewan Huskies battled to a 1-1 draw in a chippy Canada West men’s soccer affair that saw the teams combine for 33 fouls and five yellow cards.”

3. Tending to form chips when cut, rather than larger, more usable pieces of wood.
4. (dated)As dry as a chip of wood.
5. (archaic)Feeling sick from drinking alcohol; hungover.

verb

1. (slang)To take drugs (especially heroin) on an occasional basis, rather than as an addict.

   “I chippy around but haven't been hooked in a year now.”

   “The heroin user in the United States typically "chippies" for some time before becoming a regular user.”

   “For the most part, the players who are "chippying" with heroin think that they have their heroin use under control […]”