Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also chantey, chantie) a song; thus throw off a rum chant, to sing a good song.

1789		G. Parker ‘The Masqueraders’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 73: My chaunt I concludes, and shall now pad the hoof.
1800		Sporting Mag. Apr. XVI 26/2: Sir John lipt us the favourite chaunt of poor Jerry Abershaw’s.
1811		Caledonian Mercury 14 Oct. 4/2: Bob Gregson tipped his customers a rum chaunt about the late mill.
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang.
1821		‘An Amateur’ Real Life in London II 518: They enjoy the great advantages of hearing the prime chaunts, rum glees, and kiddy catches.
c.1835		‘The Youth of the Garden’ in Holloway & Black II (1979) 159: The lads they all run / To hear a rum chaunt who’s fame’s just begun.
1835		‘A Blow-Out Among The Blowen’ in Secret Songster 14: I’ll sing you an out-and-out chaunt, if you like.
1842		Egan ‘Jack Flashman’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 142: My blades, before my chaunt I end, / Here the rag-sauce of a friend.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
1862		J.A. Hardwick ‘The Man of Activity’ in Prince of Wales’ Own Song Book 72: My chaunt is – I’ve got lots of work to do-oo-oo.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 52/2: [He] had just struck up [...] a stave from his favorite chaunt.
1882		Daily Tel. 19 Oct. 5/2: To troll his jovial chaunts [...] in a tavern parlour [M.] [F&H].
1884		Henley & Stevenson Admiral Guinea I viii: Don’t you remember the old chantie?
1927		(con. 1835–40) P. Herring Bold Bendigo 9: ‘Lives of all the milling coves,’ he cried. ‘Tom and Jerry, or Flash Life in London,’ with all the chaunts and pictures.
1939		in R. Butterfield Sat. Eve. Post Treasury (1954) 14 Jan. 399: He raised his voice in a rollicking blue-water chantey.

2. a newspaper advertisement; an account of a robbery.

1753		J. Poulter Discoveries (1774) 43: We are all in the Chant; we are all in the News.
1786		Whole Art of Thieving .
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 232: chant: an advertisement in a newspaper or hand-bill; also a paragraph in the newspaper describing any robbery or other recent event; any lost or stolen property, for the recovery of which, or a thief, &C., for whose apprehension a reward is held out by advertisement, are said to be chanted.

3. any form of writing.

1807		H. Tufts Autobiog. (1930) 292: Chant signifies writing of any kind.
1830		Egan Finish to the Adventures of Tom and Jerry (1889) 104: I’ll bet the New Receiver of Scrives against the Editor’s Box of a Monkery Chaunt.

4. any form of marking, on silver, linen etc; thus chanted, marked.

1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 231: chant: a cipher, initials, or mark of any kind, on a piece of plate, linen, or other article; any thing so marked is said to be chanted.
1821		Egan Life in London (1869) 312: If your name had not been chaunted in it, it would have been dinged into the dunagan.
1824		Compl. Hist. Murder Mr Weare 258: Thurtell said, ‘We may as well look and see if there is any chaunt about the money’ – and examined the four notes, but there were no marks upon them.

5. one’s name (and address); thus tip someone a queer chant, to give a false name, esp. to a tradesman one wishes to defraud.

1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 231: chant: a person’s name, address, or designation; thus, a thief who assumes a feigned name on his apprehension to avoid being known, or a swindler who gives a false address to a tradesman, is said to tip them a queer chant.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1848		Ladies’ Repository (N.Y.) Oct. VIII:37 316/1: Chant, name, (for instance, ‘Tip your chant,’ means give your name).
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 92/2: A ‘sheeny wire’ who went by the ‘chant’ of Sammy the Jew-boy.

6. sheet music, a printed ballad with its lyrics.

1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 227/1: The city was tidy for the patter, sir, or the chaunt.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 108/1: ’Twas [i.e. a stolen item] converted into ‘posh,’ furnishing little Bill (Curly) with a ‘duke’ full of ‘chaunts,’ which he hawked from door to door.