subs. (popular).—Finish; elegance; spirit; dash; style—any quality which marks a person or thing as superior. [Originally a French slang term of uncertain origin, Littré being inclined to trace it to chicane, tact or skill. The French chic originally signified subtlety, cunning, skill; and, among English painters, TO CHIC UP A PICTURE, or TO DO A THING FROM CHIC = to work without models and out of one’s own head.]
1856. LEVER, The Martins of Cro’ Martin, 321. The French have invented a slang word … and by the expression CHIC have designated a certain property by which objects assert their undoubted superiority over all their counterfeits.
1866. YATES, Land at Last, I., p. 110. A certain piquancy and CHIC in her appearance.
1871. London Figaro, 28 Feb. Those rollicking break-downs, those screeching girls who are so much admired for their CHIC, invariably give me a headache.
Adj. (common).—Stylish; elegant; ‘up to Dick.’ So also CHICDOM. [From CHIC + DOM.]
1873. Daily News, 9 June. She must be ready to stick on a bow here and there, to give herself an air of CHICDOM. The youthful student, however, must not go too far in the direction of CHIC,… the chief thing which distinguishes the dress of a lady is the absence of those prominent and inharmonious decorations, etc.
