Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) arrogant, conceited; thus chestiness, arrogance.

1898		Wash. Times (DC) 25 Sept. 7/3: ‘Chesty is a word that has been around for several months [...] ‘Hello, my chesty friend’.
1899–1900		C.L. Cullen Tales of the Ex-Tanks 215: I’m not so chesty now as I used to be, and whatever big head I ever had has been swatted out of me.
1908		B. Fisher A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 82: The parrot is getting awful chesty because he doesn’t have to swim.
1912		G.R. Chester Five Thousand an Hour Ch. xxi: Everybody likes you, you’re a swift money-maker, and you’ve got a girl – now don’t get chesty.
1913		J. London Valley of the Moon (1914) 315: ‘They needn’t get chesty with me, I can tell you that much.’ [...] ‘But they’re not showing any signs of chestiness,’ Saxon demurred.
1922		Eve. Star. (Wash., DC) 26 Mar. 22/2: Look at the real ‘chesty’ chap. Why is he ’chesty’? Because he is pretty full (maybe too full...) of self-assurance, self-confidence, and varying degrees of self-respect.
1924		P. Marks Plastic Age 311: They felt a bit chesty at the thought of that B.S. or A.B., but a little sentimental at the thought of leaving ‘old Sanford’.
1933		W. Winchell On Broadway 23 May [synd. col.] A heavily saturated with Wyoming Ketchup Pete-man was doing a little chesty chatter before a group of novices in the same racket.
1942		W. Winchell 17 May [synd. col.] The Chinese tricked the chesty Japs into over-running second base.
1965		J. Breslin [synd. col.] 8 Dec. The fact that [Black] Muslims would do anything around him except walk shows how chesty these people have become.

2. pugnacious, aggressive.

1898		Wash. Times (DC) 25 Sept. 7/3: ‘Chesty is a word that has been around for several months [...] ‘Now don’t get chesty about a little thing like that’.
1903		A.H. Lewis Boss 193: They’re less chesty; an’ then they work better.
1908		Sporting Times 23 May 2/4: They’d better put the muzzle on their line of chesty chat, / An’ pad their solar plexuses when I go on the mat.
1918		G.E. Griffin ‘Terror of Company K’ Ballads of the Regiment 58: The ‘chesty’ non-coms who were bigger / Were ‘leary’ of ‘Wild Irish Mick’.
1955		B. Schulberg On the Waterfront (1964) 313: He may think you’re a little too chesty and want to cool you off a little bit.
1975		Sepe & Telano Cop Team 133: A tall, chesty, 200-pounder [...] waving a huge carving knife.
1987		Eble Campus Sl. Oct. 2: chesty – annoyed or irritated, sometimes to the point of physical retaliation.
2008		R. Price Lush Life 127: But then Ike, Ike goes and gets all chesty about it [...] And then I think he started to go for the guy .

3. proud.

1900		Cape Girardeau Democrat (MO) 5 May 7/2: I was feeling pretty chesty, and up on myself, ’long of ketchin’ this fish.
1915		S. Ford Shorty McCabe on the Job 80: And now you’re as chesty over her as though you’d been workin’ a miracle. Just beamin’ for joy.
1992		R. Price Clockers 310: Standing still, chesty, glowing and heroic.

4. of a woman, having prominent breasts; thus as a term of address.

1946		E. Wilson Pikes Peek or Bust 101: [note 1] When Miss [Jane] Russell’s picture, The Outlaw, played in Los Angeles, billboard posters displaying a chesty picture of Miss Russell carried the headline: ‘What are the two big reasons for Jane Russell’s success?’ .
1955		M. Dickens Winds of Heaven 168: A chesty girl in a sweater [OED].
1960		G.W. Target Teachers (1962) 191: One or two drawings of nice chesty breastfuls just about to get stripped off for the whip or the old you-know-what.
1975		Spradley & Mann Cocktail Waitress 91: Chesty, I need some more ice here.
1999		J. Poller Reach 151: Rosy, a chesty Kiwi girl who generally stops for a chat.
2005		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read Chopper 4 81: A chesty little policeman’s daughter. Skinny as a rake, big tits [...] Quite gorgeous.