Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a young woman; also attrib.

1850		Manchester Spy (NH) 21 Sept. n.p.: Ned Shory [...] left his chick-a-dee out side.
1902		Ade Girl Proposition 25: The Chickadees who chew Gum on the Trolley.
1914		Ade ‘The New Fable of the Intermittent Fusser’ Ade’s Fables 47: He danced with the local Chickadees, but all the time his Heart was far away, in the Dramatic Column.
1927		C. Coe Me – Gangster 178: A guy that would try to cut in on them would be nutty as a soused chickadee!
1934		R. Sale ‘A Nose for News’ in Goulart (1967) 206: It’s a frame, my chickadee.
1941		J. Archibald ‘Dog Collared’ in Popular Detective Oct. 🌐 He claimed he knew his rights as the attorney for the night-club chickadee.
1948		J. Archibald ‘Klump a la Carte’ Popular Det. July 🌐 The little chickadee was helping Willie toward the nearest drug store.
1956		T. Thursday ‘Dead Men Don’t Move’ Smashing Detective Stories Jan. 🌐 Nina Shirley was a snappy looking chickadee.
1971		Wodehouse Much Obliged, Jeeves 134: No joke for a girl [...] to have the fellow say ‘April fool, my little chickadee’.
1992		K. Lette Llama Parlour 26: A lotta chickadees wouldn’t even go into the actin’ profession with breasts your size.
2002		D.H. Sterry Chicken (2003) 97: I slide like a fox into the debutante chickadee henhouse.
2022		J. Hannaham Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 50: She’d spent so many of her days here as a chickadee.

2. (also chick-a-dee-dee, chickaweewee) a young man; often ironic address to a man.

1887		F. Francis Jr Saddle and Mocassin 312: Well, you may talk about your chickabiddies, and your chickaweewees, and your Smart Alicks, and your Joe-dandies and daisies, but when it comes to making a duck stew, I’m a darling!
1889		K. Munroe Golden Days of ’49 272: That’s him! Thats Jedge Fisher. Ain’t he just a chick-a-dee-dee with the cheek of a government mule!
1941		G. Kersh They Die with Their Boots Clean 31: Well, my chickerdees, come and get yer hair cut.
1944		D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 130: And that, my little chickadees, is life Underneath the Harlem Moon on 7th Avenoo.
2012		(con. 1980s) I. Welsh Skagboys 390: Business isn’t booming on the supply side, chickadees.