Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a Chinese restaurant.

1854

Soulé, Gihon & Nisbet Annals of S.F. 640: There were American dining-rooms, [...] the Italian osterie, the Chinese chow-chows.

2. (orig. Anglo-Chinese, also chaw-chaw) food.

1847		N.Y. Daily Trib. 12 July 2/5: We accepted Capt. Kellett’s invitation to a little Chow-Chow (chaw-chaw, dinner) with him. The dinner, though served on board the junk, was not composed of Chinese dishes, not a single rat or joint of a young puppy being on the table.
1851		Oxford Jrnl 3 May 4/1: Sam, when you have catchee chow-chow I want you chop-chop (quickly).
1856		C. Abbey diary 14 Sept. in Gosnell Before the Mast (1989) 72: The little ‘Joss House,’ or altar [...] inside a small quantity of ‘chow chow’ (food).
c.1860		‘Mark Twain’ Innocents at Home (1872) 396: We ate chow-chow with chop-sticks in the celestial restaurants.
1868		S.P. Boyer diary 27 May in Barnes Naval Surgeon (1963) 49: Satsuma is getting hard up for chow chow. The Northern army has more money, men and food than the Southern.
1878		J.H. Beadle Western Wilds 187: The dog that started it all [was] so chawed up a Chinaman couldn’t ’a made him over into chow-chow.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 17: Chow Chow, a mixture of food.
1899		New Oxford Item (Gettysburg, PA) 7/2: ‘Chow-chow’ is a word which the chinaman took to the Philippines [...] It means ‘to eat,’ ‘eating’ or ‘food’.
1905		‘Hugh McHugh’ Get Next 89: Cornelius Sudslifter, the well known inventor of the patent chowless chow chow.
1917		Goodwin’s Wkly (Salt Lake City, UT) 17 Feb. 15/1: Have some of the jell an’ a lettle of the chow-chow.
1920		R. Lardner Big Town 102: They probably meant chowchow.
1929		Advertiser (Adelaide) 25 Oct. 32/8: No ‘maunderer’ (tramp) nor ‘fencer’ (door to door hawker) need ‘clem’, (starve), or do without ‘chow chow’ (food) if he follows the many ‘patterans’ (private marks) which tramps make on or near the doors of generous householders.
1940		M. de la Roche Whiteoak Heritage (1949) 22: He [...] then helped himself liberally to chow-chow.

3. (usu. Aus.) a derog. term for a Chinese person.

1852		Maitland Mercury (NSW) 13 Mar. 4/2: [I]t is to be feared that the flocks will not benefit by the change from under the charge of British boys unto the tender mercies of Chow Chows from China.
1869		‘Edward Howe’ Boy in the Bush 215: The Jerry’s Town youngsters were pelting the Chinaman, [...] meanwhile shouting out ‘Chow-chow!’.
1889		Express & Teleg. (Adelaide) 7 Oct. 2/6: The Chow Chows friendly toiwards Austrlia owing to help sent for the starving Celestials.
1892		Life (NY) 7 July n.p.: [cartoon caption] I say, Chow Chow, our Sunday school is goin’ ter buy buy a new collar for de dog, see? An’ I’ve come in ter find out if you won’t contribute suthin’ towards it.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 8 Apr. 5/1: ‘Cubby’ v. ‘Chow-Chow’ [...] a tug-of-war between aborginals and Chinamen.
1945		Baker Aus. Lang. 185: The many expressions we have developed [...] for the Chinese: chink, chinkie, chow, chow-chow [...] and john chinaman.