Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. money; also in pl. as chinks.

1573		T. Tusser Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie (1878) 134: As oft as ye bargaine, for better or wurse, to buie it the cheaper, haue chinkes in thy purse.
c.1590		Jeronimo (1605) Bii: Oh Duckets, dainty ducks forgive me, Duckets, ile fetch you duck inough or gold, And chink ma[k]es, the punck wanton and the Bawd to winke.
1606		Wily Beguiled 5: O this red chink, and silver coine, it is the consolation of the World.
1611		Davies of Hereford Scourge of Folly 83: He (staggering) is vpheld to purse some Chincks.
1630		J. Taylor ‘Anagrams and Satyrs’ in Works (1869) II 260: The Mizer with his lecherie of Chinke, / On earth will giue his dropsie soule to drinke.
c.1648		ballad in Wardroper (1969) 143: From hence you must slink / If you swear, and have no chink.
1654		Mercurius Fumigosus 21 18–25 Oct. 179: Of Terms of Trade, and Terms of Art, / Of Lillies Rules, and Rules to F--t: / Of Rules to eate, and Rules to drink, / Of Rules to save, or spend your chink.
1661		Antidote Against Melancholy in Ebsworth Choyce Drollery (1876) 326: Come drink, we cannot want Chink, / Observe how my pockets do gingle.
1672		‘The Petticoat wagge, The Answer’ in Ebsworth Westminster Drolleries (1875) ii 14: Some say the world is full of pelfe; But I think There’s no Chinke.
1684		Rochester (attrib.) Sodom Prologue: You all love bawdy things, as Whores love chink.
1698		‘Against, & For Life’ Poetical Remaines of Rochester, Etherege, and Others 90: Since for the dull Chink, honest C--l or B--n, / With Nymphs fair as she, and more loving, can fit one.
1700		‘The True World’ in Playford Pills to Purge Melancholy II 69: They say the World is full of Pelf, / But I think there’s no Chink.
1719		in D’Urfey Pills to Purge Melancholy IV 69: [as cit. 1700].
1724		A. Ramsay Tea-table Misc. (1733) I 6: The world is rul’d by asses, And the wise are sway’d by chink.
1737		W. Wilkes ‘Humours of the Black Dog’ in A. Carpenter Verse in Eng. in 18C Ireland (1998) 261: I want a little Chink: / For upon Tick I never draw my Drink.
1772		Bridges Burlesque Homer (3rd edn) 234: After we have work’d their buff, / We then shall all get chink enough.
1784		J. O’Keeffe Fontainebleau in Dramatic Works (1798) II 206: Let French and English mingle, [...] while to me they bring the chink.
c.1786		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions .
1796		Sporting Mag. Sept. VIII 329/1: He paid like a prince [...] / While the landlady, touching the chink, / Cried –‘Sir should you travel this country again [etc.]’.
c.1800		‘Landlady Casey’ in Holloway & Black (1975) I 153: And while to me they tip the chink / Faith, let the glasses jingle.
1810		C. Dibdin Yngr Jew Pedlar 1: Ve buys and sells and gets de chink.
1821		R. Waln Hermit in America on Visit to Phila. 2nd series 26: Out with the shiners—out with the chink.
1829		Vidocq Memoirs (trans. W. McGinn) II 126: Come, come, the cash, the chink, and no gammon.
c.1830		‘Unfortunate Billy’ in Holloway & Black (1975) I 267: For while his fob contained the chink / He was the rolling kiddy.
1838		N.Y. Daily Express 26 July 2/3: Hello Stranger, and will ye give us a good note for five dollars in real chink?
1845		J. Lindridge Sixteen-String Jack 327: Here, snatch up these trifles, and give us the chinks for another hundred.
1853		Bell’s Life in Sydney 30 Apr. 3/2: The chink in his pockets was remarkably piano.
1857		‘Leary Man’ ‘Ducange Anglicus’ Vulgar Tongue (1857) 43: At knock’emsdown and tiddlywink, / To be a sharp you must not shrink / But be a brick and sport your chink.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 55/1: They were obliged to ‘lumber’ some of the things off from the ‘bed,’ to raise the ‘chink’.
1870		Old Hunks in Darkey Drama 5 50: I took de chink, and sent him out for liquor and dis pie.
1883		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 3 Nov. 2/4: After spending his chink / On every one who would drink / He’s a ‘Salt River tar’ young man.
1884		Henley & Stevenson Admiral Guinea II i: No chink, no drink?
1894		N. Otago Times (NZ) 30 May 1/7: The young vandals of today use ‘chink’ for money.
1899		‘Tom Bluegum’ Backblocks’ Parson 181: ‘Say, mister, how much jink [sic] ’ll take to square us?’ ‘My fee is two guineas,’ replied the preacher.
1902		‘Dads Wayback’ in Sun. Times (Sydney) 8 June 5/5: [T]her madeter order Governor ain’t got ther chink, or don’t like ter part ef he has.
1905		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘When Duty Calls’ Sporting Times 13 May 1/3: But the culprit’s savoir-faire, and his command of ready chink, / A reaction caused.
1910		Sun. Times (Perth) 19 June 3rd sect. 17/7: Don't forget that tbe Children’s Protection Society have the hall next Wednesday night at the Star. It’s a bobby-dazzler of a programme, and the kiddies get the chink.
1910		O. Johnson Varmint 61: Save half your chink, get everything second hand.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 404: He’ve got the chink ad lib.
1925		Dly Mercury (Mackay, Qld) 15 July 9/1: [ex Dly Mail, London] For the word money itself, in Mid-Victorian England, actually more than 40 slang terms were in common use. Few are the survivors. Chink, tin, and dibbs survive merely in schools those strongholds of conservatism.
1934		E. Raymond Child of Norman’s End (1967) 82: He’s got plenty of chink.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 43/1: Chink. (Rare) Money.
1962		A. La Guma Walk in the Night (1968) 32: Here I am right out of chink.
2007		Indep. 1 June 20: As a Geordie might say, £460,000 is a ‘canny load of chink’.

2. (UK Und.) a tankard.

1753		J. Poulter Discoveries (1774) 42: I’m a Sneak for Chinks or Feeders; I’m a Thief for Tankards or Spoons.
1786		Whole Art of Thieving .

3. (Aus. und.) in pl., burglary tools.

1909		Truth (Perth) 2 Jan. 4/8: Workin hard & silently / With the fag end of a candle / And his chinks, that’s tools, you see.
1909		Truth (Brisbane) 3 Jan. 10/5: They ain’t like a decent cracksman, Who do go a roamin’ round, / With his bag of chinks, & Jemmy, / Lookin’ for wot may be found.