Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. impertinence.

1851		Kings Co. Chron. 1 Jan. 2/4: It was as difficult to get him out of bed in the morning as at night; and when the witness would remonstrate with him, his reply would be, ‘no chin-wag, old chap’.
1860		Fife Herald 19 Jan. 3/7: After [...] some very characteristic disaplay of ‘chin-wag’ [they] were fined [...] for disorderly conduct.
1873		Sl. Dict.

2. a chat, a conversation.

1879		Punch No. 2061 4: I’d just like to have a bit of chin-wag with you on the quiet.
1898		letter in People Aug. in Ware (1909) 73/1: I have not been out of my pyjamas all day and no further from the tent than the next one for a ‘chinwag.’.
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.
1919		‘Bartimeus’ ‘Narrative of Commander W.D. Hornby’ Awfully Big Adventure 96: I thought that, as we were going over the bags together, we might meet and have a chin-wag.
1925		(con. WWI) Fraser & Gibbons Soldier and Sailor Words 54: Chin Wag: Talk: voluble discussion.
1931		O. Strange Law O’ The Lariat 90: The boys have bin indulgin’ in a chin-wag.
1955		D. Niland Shiralee 153: I’d like to have a real good chin-wag.
1963		H.E. Bates Oh! To be in England (1985) 349: Been having a long chin-wag with somebody, haven’t you?
1975		D. Nobbs Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976) 285: That was a chinwag and a half.
1985		B. Humphries Traveller’s Tool 114: I know that fantastic old Polish tarmac-basher is creaming his cassock for a nice long chin-wag with Yours Truly.
1996		(con. 1964-65) B. Thorpe Sex and Thugs and Rock ’n’ Roll 226: ‘’Aving a great old chinwag they was’.
1999		Indep. Rev. 26 June 20: He [...] would have stayed for a chin-wag.
2003		Bug (Aus.) Oct. 🌐 Just the other day I was having a chinwag with my old mate Bondy.
2005		H. Mantel Beyond Black 164: The secret signal that men make to other men, to say they want a chinwag and a smoke.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 104: Shame you two couldn’t have a little chinwag.
2020		G. Disher Consolation 26: He patted his pockets, pulled out tobacco, papers and a match, settling in for a chinwag.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 269: This is what I recall of my various chinwags with the Vicomtesse.