Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. Scot.) a person, esp. a close friend.

1822		J. Galt Sir Andrew Wylie III 229: We were great companions when laddies [...] he was a clever chappie.
1882		Punch LXXXII 69/1: I’ll sing you a fine new song, all about a fine young spark, Who’s a fine young London gentleman, quite up to any lark, Who takes supper very early, and breakfasts in the dark; Who’s a real ‘dear old chappie,’ as I needn’t perhaps remark.
1896		M. Williams Round London 158: It is the favourite haunt of the ‘Johnnies’ and ‘dear chappies’ – those singular specimens of the rising generation of England.
1899		Courier (Lincoln, NE) 20 May 6/1: ‘Awfully sad about chappie.’ ‘What?’ ‘He tries to be horsey and is simply asinine’.
1902		E. Townsend Chimmie Fadden and Mr Paul 45: He was a chappy alongside de countesss.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 6 Mar. 8/2: A nice old chappie who made a fortune out of poison and pills.
1905		Sporting Times 18 Feb. 2/3: All the chappies are about full of banquet, and booze, and bankruptcy, and are having a time that’s awful ripping.
1909		Observer (N.Z.) 27 Nov. 51/2: ‘Well, old chappie,’ replied the new chum, [...] ‘These chappies at Home used to say I was an awfully clever chap’.
1910		Wodehouse Gentleman of Leisure Ch. xxv: I don’t blame a chappie for doing the gentleman burglar touch.
1923		Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves 18: You think it’s alright for a chappie [...] to marry what you might describe as the lower classes?
1936		A.E. Duckett ‘Truckin ’round Brooklyn’ in N.Y. Age 4 Apr. 7/1: Lads and lassies, chappies and chippies there.
1936		‘Banjo’ Paterson Shearer’s Colt 92: If we invite the wrong chappies to Government House, why, yours truly gets it in the neck.
1947		K. Williams Diaries 7 Feb. 9: Ronny beamed at me tonight from the orchestra pit! awfully nice chappy.
1954		R. Service ‘A Character’ Carols of an Old Codger 29: How often do I wish I were / What people call a character; / A ripe and cherubic old chappie.
1968		P. Barnes Ruling Class I xiii: There’s always some scruffy chappie on a street corner who wants to tell you all about his love life.
1976		H. Leonard Time Was (1981) Act II: English chappie, name of Wren. Rum sort of fellow.
1982		C. Hope Private Parts 21: What’s this black chappie got to do with anything?
1990		J. Naidoo Coolie Location 53: These three chappies were police recruits.
1998		P. McCabe Breakfast on Pluto 64: I wonder what he works at now, this latest pick-up chappie of mine?
2006		D. Mitchell Black Swan Green 58: He should be the head honcho oarsman chappie.
2010		N. Bradley ‘Blind Old Kate’ 🌐 This Vista chappie played the guitar.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 459: ‘We’re just a bit curious about this chappie’.

2. a term of address to a friend.

1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 77/1: What’s your opinion about it, chappy?
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 11 Apr. 11/4: But, do you really fancy, James, / That fellows can’t be happy / Unless they have the self-same aims / In life as you, old chappie?
1888		Burnley Gaz. 27 Oct. 3/8: Hello, chappy!
1893		Southern Echo 17 July 2/5: ‘Say, chappie, what are the two greatest wants of mankind?’.
1900		Truth (Sydney) 30 Sept. 5/5: As a swell cove sez, ‘old chappie, / When we goes slidin, dontcherno’.
1906		New Boys’ World 29 Dec. 100: Ta, ta, old chappie.
1928		C. McKay Home to Harlem 22: Ahm in your confidence, chappie.
1936		‘George Orwell’ Keep The Aspidistra Flying (1962) 28: ‘Hullo, chappie!’ he said blithely.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 20: You gonna be my man with the Ricans, Chappie.

3. a man about town.

1883		G.A. Sala in Illus. London News 24 Mar. 290/1: Lord Boodle, a rapid chappie always ready to bet on everything with anybody [F&H].
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 10 Jan. 20/1: [A] bank masher from George street, lounging languidly on the arm of another ‘chappie,’ stared straight in the eyes of a Waverley girl […] and exclaimed, ‘Bai Jove! that’s a pretty good face now, isn’t it Charley?’.
1894		G.A. Sala Things I Have Seen II 78: ‘Johnnies’ and ‘Chappies’ who [...] ‘raise Cain and break things.’.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 7 Oct. 2/6: The open-air fete, in aid of members of the ‘perfesh’ who are suffering from the prevalent depression, takes place [...] on Thursday week [...] The Chappies and Johnnies are expected to muster in full force.
1900		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 22 Dec. 3/1: She has been the fair goddess before whom ‘chappies,’ social lions and men of affairs have bowed down.
1903		A. Binstead Pitcher in Paradise 237: The charmed circles in which he proposed [...] to be still the gay, débonnaire, and case-hardened old chappie.
1906		Sun. Times (Perth) 1 July 1/1: The tow-haired Barrack-street cash tartlet is the cynosure of all chappies.
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 221/2: When the chappies and Johnnies became notorious for frequenting the old Gaiety Theatre stalls (1879–82), they were remarkable for the display of very large, rigid shirt-fronts.
1910		Truth (Perth) 5 June 12/1: One fine afternoon a chappie, / Who were waitin’ at the Quay / [...] / he were as fly a Johnnie / As you could hope to see.
1910		Rogers & Powell [perf. Marie Lloyd] Are You Looking for a Girl Like Me? 🎵 There’s a chappie in the stalls, nice boy! I don't flatter! / He’s been looking round like mad, / Gussie, what's the matter?’.
c.1916		Daily Liar 3/1: Johnnies, Chappies, Fatheads and Noodles given away as a bonus, very good at Kissing.
1923		Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves 6: This chappie [...] who spoke in that absolutely careless way of macaroons and limado.

4. used non-specifically to identify a type.

2024

J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 762: [T]he hallucinogenic chappies which drive you so loufouky you’re seeing hippos coming out the tap.