This word, in the sense of coins of one denomination given in exchange for those of another is responsible for several expressive colloquialisms.
TO GIVE CHANGE, phr. (common).—To ‘pay out’; to give one his deserts. Cf., TO TAKE ONE’S CHANGE OUT OF.
TO HAVE ALL ONE’S CHANGE ABOUT ONE, phr. (common).—To be clever; quick-witted; quite ‘compos mentis’; with ‘twelve pence to the shilling about one.’
TO PUT THE CHANGE ON, phr. (old).—To deceive, or mislead. Apparently for a long time a contemporary variant of TO RING THE CHANGES.
1667. DRYDEN, Sir Martin Mar-all, Act ii. Warn. By this light, she has PUT THE CHANGE UPON HIM! O, sweet womankind! how I love thee for that heavenly gift of lying!
1671. R. HEAD, The English Rogue, pt. I., ch. xvi., p. 168 (1874). The Box-keeper shall walk off, pretending some speedy dispatch of a business concerning the House of Office, &c. whilst your Antagonist shall PUT THE CHANGE UPON YOU.
1694. CONGREVE, The Double Dealer, v., 17. I have so contriv’d that Mellefont will presently, in the chaplain’s habit, wait for Cynthia in your dressing-room; but I have PUT THE CHANGE UPON her, that she may be otherwise employed.
1821. SCOTT, Kenilworth, ch. iii. You cannot PUT THE CHANGE ON me so easy as you think, for I have lived among the quick-stirring spirits of the age too long to swallow chaff for grain.
TO RING THE CHANGES, phr. (common).—To change a better article for a worse. [An allusion to bell-ringing where it signifies to exhaust the combinations of a peal of bells.] In its slang sense TO RING THE CHANGES chiefly refers to the passing of counterfeit money. As thus:—‘About five weeks ago, the prisoner went into a tobacconist’s shop in Cheapside, and purchased a cheroot, tendering a sovereign in payment. The prosecutor, Mr. Elkin, gave him the change, half-a-sovereign and 9s. 6d. silver. The prisoner said he did not want to distress him by taking away all his silver, and asked for another half sovereign. The prosecutor put down half-a-sovereign, which the prisoner took up, and the latter then said that if he returned the sovereign, he would give him back the change, and the prosecutor, taken off his guard, did so, and received the first half sovereign and the 9s. 6d. in silver, the prisoner walking out of the shop with the second half sovereign.’
1661. The History of the English Rebellion, in Harleian Miscellany (ed. Park), II., 528.
| Five months ago, our mighty States | |
| Were pleas’d to vote No King; | |
| But two months since, to act new cheats, | |
| Their votes the CHANGES RING. |
1760. SMOLLETT, Sir Launcelot Greaves, vol. I., ch. x. Hugging in and RINGING OUT THE CHANGES on the balance of power, the Protestant religion, and your allies on the Continent.
1828. BADCOCK (‘Jon Bee’), Living Picture of London, p. 232. He found one piece [of muslin] that was indeed real India, bargained for and bought it, amidst continued attempts to shuffle it between others, for the purpose of RINGING THE CHANGES, as they term the nefarious act.
1877. W. H. THOMSON, Five Years’ Penal Servitude, iii. 234. Nothing easier than for some man to have slipped out of bed, night or day, and ‘RUNG THE CHANGES’ of the bottles.
1880. HAWLEY SMART, Social Sinners, ch. xli. The culprit had been guilty of RINGING THE CHANGES or other petty larceny.
TO TAKE THE CHANGE OUT OF [a person or thing], phr. (common).—To be revenged upon; to take an equivalent, or quid pro quo. Frequently used interjectionally—TAKE YOUR CHANGE OUT OF THAT! with a blow or other rejoinder. An analogous expression is PUT THAT IN YOUR PIPE AND SMOKE IT!
1829. J. WILSON, Noctes Ambrosianæ, wks. II., 174. Shepherd (flinging a purse of gold on the table). It’ll require a gey strang thaw to melt that, chiels; sae TAK YOUR CHANGE OUT O’ THAT, as Joseph [Hume] says, either in champaigne, or yill …. just whatsomever you like best to drink and devour.
1838. HALIBURTON (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker, 2 S., ch. viii. ‘Thinks I to myself, TAKE YOUR CHANGE OUT O’ THAT, young man, will you?’
1854. WHYTE-MELVILLE, General Bounce, ch. xi. If his ammunition be exhausted he betakes himself to the bayonet, and swears ‘the beggars may TAKE THEIR CHANGE OUT OF THAT.’
1861. H. KINGSLEY, Ravenshoe, ch. xlvi. Turn Lady Ascot once fairly to bay, you would (if you can forgive slang) GET VERY LITTLE CHANGE OUT OF HER.
1863. H. KINGSLEY, Austin Elliott, I., 185. Cabman, log: ‘I never said nothink to you, but without provocation you tell me to go to Putney. Now, I tell you what it is, I’m blessed if I don’t go, and you may TAKE YOUR CHANGE OUT OF THAT!’ And go he did. [Cf., ‘GO TO PUTNEY’ (q.v.).]
QUICK CHANGE ARTISTE, subs. (music hall).—A performer, male or female, who sings one song in one costume, retires for a few seconds and returns to sing another in another guise, and so on.
