Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a working-class youth, esp. if particularly brash, often wearing sportswear and/or designer labels; occas. with implication of petty criminality; oral use is attested in north-eastern England post. c.1990.

2004		chavscum.co.uk 🌐 Chavs, Neds, Townies, Kevs, Charvers, Steeks, Spides, Bazzas, Yarcos, Ratboys, Kappa Slappers, Skangers, Janners, Stigs, Scallies, whatever you know them as, this site is about them, Britains peasant underclass that are taking over our towns and cities!
2004		Guardian 2 Oct. 24: Chavs are the non-respectable working classes [...] Key chav characteristics apparently include being called Jasmine, Tiffany or Wayne, driving a souped-up Vauxhall Nova, and wearing ‘prison-white’ trainers and FCUK zip-up tops. Chav is, in short, Essex girl and the beshellsuited scouser, all rolled into one great Burberry-patterned beast.
2006		Metro (London) 5 Jan. 7/1: A teenager was stabbed to death after a girl called him a ‘chav’.
2011		Sky News 22 Oct. 🌐 In short, why is it okay to hate chavs ’n’ pikeys?
2012		J. Fagan Panopticon (2013) 211: ‘Oh my God, it’s lesbo chav,’ The blonde nods towards Isla.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

2005		B. Hare Urban Grimshaw 231: Look at your life, reflect for a while, / You’re a little charver scum getting on with his time.
2006		Daily Mail 30 Aug. 13: So, how do you solve a problem like Chav TV?
2010		Sun. Times Sport19 Dec. 25/4: One commentator has called his television style [...] ‘Aussie chav’.