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.
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.
1950		‘Hal Ellson’ Tomboy (1952) 112: Listen, chick, I’m only doing this for your own good.
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.
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. 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.

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.