Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) a man.

c.1620		Fletcher Women Pleased IV iii: My valiant boy; do not look so fiercely on me, Thou wilt fright me with thy face; come busse againe Chick, Smile in my face you mad thing.
1633		Rowley Match at Midnight IV i: tim: Ha, ha, Grandmother, Ile tell thee the best jest. sue: Prithee chicke.
1663		J. Wilson Cheats V ii: Now, my dear chick, how I love thee!
1637		T. Heywood Royal King and Loyal Subject III iii: Come, shall we dally together? Sit upon my knee, my sweet boy; what money hast thou in thy purse? Wilt thou bestow this upon me, my sweet chick.
c.1696		J. Lewis Memoirs of Duke of Gloucester (1789) 95: ‘Sir,’ said the Doctor, ‘you pick like a chicken!’ – ‘But, Doctor, I am a chick of the game though!’.
1791		‘Anthony Pasquin’ Shrove Tuesday 68: Believe, my Chicks, one third of what you hear.
1820		Jack Randall’s Diary 64: This Chick used to amuse his ‘leisure hours’ in selling dog’s meat.
1836		Marryat Mr Midshipman Easy I 181: ‘Well, then, my chick, I must trouble you with a little more of this,’ said Vigors, drawing out his colt.
1845		W.T. Thompson Chronicles of Pineville 32: ‘I’m your boy,’ said Joe, ‘I’s another chick to Bill Sweeny!’.
1857		Paul Pry (London) 15 Aug. n.p.: John, my chick, take warning, ‘a stitch in time saves nine’.
1864		J.F. Brobst letter in Brobst Well Mary, Civil War Letters 85: No ragamuffin gal can catch this chick.
1882		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 4 Mar. 11/1: ‘[B]etween you and me I’m the chick that they call 'Nibsey Gull’ .

2. (also chicky) a term of address to a (young) woman.

1608		Dekker Honest Whore Pt 2 (1630) III ii: How now little chicke, what aylest?
1624		R. Davenport City-Night-Cap (1661) I 6: Sweet Chick, I come to take leave of thee.
1631		J. Shirley School of Complement II i: O my Bird, my Chick, my Dove.
1635		H. Glapthorne Hollander IV i: I have made triall of him, and finde him of a very good disposition, come chicke you shall have him.
1641		[bk title] A Dialogue betweene two Hot-spurres of the Times, Serjeant Slice-man, alias Smell-smockof Coney-Court in Chick-lane, and Corporall Dam-meeof Bell-alley neere Pick-hatch.
1663		J. Wilson Cheats I v: Here, chick, prithee bite a bit of ’t.
1853		H. Hayman Pawnbroker’s Daughter 196: ‘Be an old maid, Fan, chick,’ said Miss Ballantyne.
1919		S. Lewis Free Air 238: ‘Come, dolly, I have a jitney here [...] We’ll hustle to the station now. No! No arguments, chick!’.
1950		‘Hal Ellson’ Tomboy (1952) 112: Listen, chick, I’m only doing this for your own good.
1957		W. Brown Wicked Streets (2025) 11: ‘Here we are, chick. Them creeps up front won’t bother us’.
1976		P. Theroux Family Arsenal 266: That’s right, chicky.
1981		Eble Campus Sl. Fall 2: chick – female friend (can be used among females): Hey chick, let‘s go out to dinner some time.
2010		A. Steinberg Running the Books 81: Yo, your kite was right!! Chic, ya off the hook, and on some real shit.

3. (also chic) a young woman.

1850		Manchester Spy (NH) 21 Sept. n.p.: When it comes to fun, jest give me a reg’lar turkey trot dance — that is with the pretty ‘chicks’ [...] come to my arms. thou cherub!
1888		Edinburgh Eve. News 19 May 3/4: Call a girl a chick and she smiles; call a woman a hen and she howls.
1896		Coburg Leader (Vic.) 28 Mar. 4/4: Lal don’t seek the old birds, pick a young chick in the G.D.S.
1902		Bulletin (Sydney) 9 Aug. 14/4: And when a cuddlesome duet ensues, the convent chick carries her part of the hug off with a confidence, a proficiency, and a girl-of-the-world air that send all preconceived notions about convents into a cocked hat.
1905		A. Binstead Mop Fair 85: I have volunteered to stake them to three little Broad Court chorus chicks.
1911		T.A. Dorgan Silk Hat Harry’s Divorce Suit 15 Aug. [synd. cartoon strip] Cheese it. Boys make your getaway. I found a chick.
1918		T. Thursday ‘Nearly Over’ Top-Notch 15 Apr. 🌐 And there I was trying to scheme up a new plot with that chick tittering like a canary bird.
1922		Broadway Brevities Aug. 22/2: Carroll’s no chick any longer.
1937		N.Y. Amsterdam News 11 Dec. 20: Chicks run out without a final accounting.
1940		Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 27 Apr. 7/6: Lesson 1: How to Collar a Chic.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 5: Do you know how he spent years watching the droopy chicks in cathouses.
1956		L. Hughes Simply Heavenly I iii: That Zarita, she’s sure a fine looking chick.
1959		J. Osborne World of Paul Slickey Act II: Listen and tremble all you swinging chicks and broads.
1966		T. Keyes All Night Stand 7: He’s got such a pretty face that all the chicks I fancy always like Mick.
1970		K. Mackey Cure 53: [S]he was a paragon chick in things like loyalty and selflessness.
1971		M. Novotny Kings Road 102: How are the Chelsea chicks?
1975		D. Goines Inner City Hoodlum 15: If only that chick in the photograph could see him now.
1977		F. Dike First South African 28: If a white chick fancies me, am I supposed to say no?
1978		D. Marechera House of Hunger (2013) [book] [He] was forever recounting harrowing stories about ‘where he was at with the chicks’.
1984		C. White Life and Times of Little Richard 59: The chick comes in and puts these trite lyrics in front of me.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 70: Stashed at a chick’s crib in the Tenderloin.
1999		Indep. Rev. 10 Aug. 7: A banker from Putney, shakes his head sadly: ‘It wouldn’t pull chicks’.
2000		M. Amis Experience 185: When I go out with Rob, I pay for everything. He says, ‘Just pretend I’m a chick’.
2007		D. McDonald Luck in the Greater West (2008) 87: Went and had another session with the pot they’d found in the chick’s jeans.
2010		K. Richards Life 68: We’d all got there out of boys’ schools and suddenly we’re in classes with chicks.
2010		L. Redhead Thrill City [ebook] ‘What about the chicks?’ ‘They’re always throwing themslves at him’.
2012		‘Dutch’ ? (Pronounced Que) [ebook] It was then that he realized there was a chick in the car.
2014		me-stepmums-too-fuckin-hot-mate at www.fakku.net 🌐 I got this gay school project. I gotta write a paper on chicks’ underwear.
2016		A. Wheatle Crongton Knights 18: ‘The only thing you’re going to be on [...] is a detention for stalking this ripe chick’.
2017		G. Gilmore Headland [ebook] ‘You still seing that chick [...] Celia?’.
2019		C.D. Rosales Word Is Bone [ebook] He looked disappointed. Like he’d been expecting someone else. Probably that chick. Kiddy.
2020		G. Krauze What They Was 62: These three yardie chicks [...] Tameeka, Marcia and [...] Stephanie .
2020		C. Hiaasen Squeeze Me 98: The ponytailed chick sat on the countertop.

4. a novice; a young apprentice.

1821		‘Battle’ in Fancy I XVII 405: Dav. Hudson proved a mere chick in his hands.
1867		Kendal Mercury 9 Mar. 4/3: ‘Now then [...] is your chick in the cell with you’.
1881		Bulletin (Sydney) 26 Feb. 4/3: At puddings and pies she’s a ‘stunner,’ / At roasting and boiling no chick; In fact, she’s really ‘A1’-er – / A regular housekeeping brick.

5. a girlfriend.

1946		R.L. Bellem ‘Latin Blood’ Speed Detective Aug. 🌐 Quit making passes at my chick.
1950		‘Hal Ellson’ Tomboy (1952) 52: Mary is my chick, that’s all.
1964		Male mag. in H.S. Thompson Hell’s Angels (1967) 72: We’d go into a bar and someone’d mouth off or try to move in on our chicks and then we’d fight.
1971		B. Malamud Tenants (1972) 28: The black said his chick was an off-Broadway actress.
1980		(con. 1940s–60s) H. Huncke ‘Florence’ Eve. Sun Turned Crimson (1998) 200: His chick had been gone a few weeks.
2010		A. Steinberg Running the Books 329: You got a chick?

6. (gay) a young man.

1951		K. Williams Diaries 22 May (1994) 63: He saw me in Bordeaux, obviously thinks I’m young and inexperienced and would be delighted to join him and a few intense young men, doing Romeo all over Oxfordshire. Very funny reelly. This little chic stays single.
1956		‘J. Little’ Somewhere betw. the Two 248: ‘A bald-headed impersonator, can you think of anything more revolting? You make a date with a cute chick and he sees you come out of the wig with a shiny bald pate…Love flies out the window’ [Simes:DLSS].
1974		‘G. McCord’ Oralist 127: Really David, you’re not even of age yet to do it in private never mind public.’ Gordon took his hand off David’s leg. ‘Chicks like this one are only born once in a thousand years. They’re ageless’ [Simes:DLSS].

7. (US prison) a young man as prey for prison homosexuals.

1963		in T.I. Rubin Sweet Daddy 83: Jolly – you know the queer [...] I thought of one of his chicks [...] one of his wives here.
1965		A. James America’s Homosexual Underground 158: The doc sure will go for a chick like this [...] Look at this, hardly any fuzz on his cheek.

8. (Aus.) an old woman.

1970

K. Mackey Cure 89: An old chick was buying some soap or something and the chemist who is as camp as can be lisped: Kevin, Kevin must you?

9. a male prostitute.

2000

M. Manning Get Your Cock Out 33: Sat in a darkened alcove with his court of mincing fags, chicken hawks and their little chicks all buggering and fellating away.