Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a malicious talker.

1889–90		Barrère & Leland Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

2. as n. chaff-cutting, gossip, slander.

1824		Annals of Sporting 1 May 361/2: Chaff-cutting was the order of the day among the toddlers.
1832		Egan Bk of Sports 263: [note] Of all the ‘chaff-cutting’ likely to prove unwelcome to the Fancy, that of the (Beak, or) Justice hits the hardest.

3. a wit.

1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Chaff-cutter A knowing person, one whose tongue is of great use to him, in order to silence an antagonist, whether right or wrong. Cant.
1832		Egan Bk of Sports 54: As a ‘chaff-cutter,’ I think him one of the Greatest Creatures in the History of the ‘gift of the gab’.

4. a confidence trickster.

1830

Egan Finish to the Adventures of Tom and Jerry (1889) 165: These chaff-cutters [...] would make you believe they can perform what they assert.