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Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1941 (SND Vol. II). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

CHANTY, n. Also chunty.

1. (1) Sc. slang for a chamber-pot. Known to our Bnff., Abd., Ags., Fif., Slg., Lnk. and Arg. correspondents (1939). ne.Sc. 1990 Rosemary Mackay in Hamish Whyte and Janice Galloway New Writing Scotland 8: The Day I Met the Queen Mother 82:
'You can empty the chunty. I didna get down with it the day.' ... Slowly, the huge chair turned on its casters and exposed the brimful chamber pot. Abd. 1988 Jack Webster Another Grain of Truth (1989) 20:
There would be great guffaws as a willing audience released its imagination on the prospect of one fat lady arranging herself on the limited scope of an enamel chanty.Abd. 1996 Sheena Blackhall Wittgenstein's Web 3:
Ah, bit the meenister hidna seen (or mebbe he hid but chuse nae tae notice) auld Bunty Strachan hirplin up an doon stairs frae her mither's bedroom wi a reemin chunty in her hauns ... wm.Sc. 1974 Roddy McMillan The Bevellers 64:
..., an' you're worryin aboot some stupid article that some half-arsed cowboy'll use for a chanty in the middle o the night. Rnf. 1788 E. Picken Poems 52:
On yer pow an Envoice light, Het reekan frae some chanty.Gsw. 1980 Christine Marion Fraser Blue Above the Chimneys (1985) 114:
Mam solved the problem in her usual frank manner. 'You'll have to use the chanty, Chris,' she told me cheerfully. 'But I can't!' I wailed. 'It's okay for a pee, but ...nothing else.'

(2) A toilet (pedestal) (Edb., Ayr. 2000s).Edb. 1996:
Ma keys fell doon the chanty!Edb. 1996:
Here comes the man tae fit yer chanty!

2. “A kind of flat-topped spinning-top” (Sc. 1911 S.D.D.). Not known to our correspondents.

Combs.: (1) chanty-heidit, contemptuous term used to describe a stupid person; (2) chanty po, a chamber pot (Bnff., Edb., Ayr. 2000s); (3) chanty-toomer, jocular word for a chambermaid [app. from a saying ascribed to James Carlyle, Thomas's father, c. 1780]; (4) chantywrassler, chanty wrastler, chanty rassler, contemptuous term for a person, often a shifty or unscrupulous one (Edb., Ayr. 2000s); a "smart alec" (m.Sc. 1975). See Warsle. (3) Dmf. 1887 James Kerr Carlyle as seen in his works: his characteristics as a writer and as a man 268:
What care I for thee and thy Willie! He was but a lick-plate and thou a chanty-toomer at Springkell! (4) Sc. 1970 Akros No. 15. 92:
I mak nae move but the chantywrasslers pree I hate them wi aa my divinan micht and pray the bastarts dee.Sc. 1991 Glasgow Herald 2 March :
Our request for information on the provenance of the phrase chantie-wrassler has produced a small but learned correspondence. G. Rennie of Cardross believes it refers to a person who is haunless, even worse than somebody who couldnae run a menawdge. Someone, who, obliged to use a chantie during the hours of darkness, would not have the manual dexterity to avoid an unsightly mess on the floor. John F. Keith of Paisley believes the phrase originated in the shipyards. There was a class of chap who strove to keep in the good books of the foreman to ensure continued employment. It would be said of this chap that he was a sook, a groveller, or a pee-hee. "He tims the foreman's po," his workmates would say. "By extension, this was transmuted into chantie-wrassler," says Mr Keith. But the origin that sounds most likely is that suggested by a gentleman from Prestwick who wishes to remain anonymous. It comes from the days of the ocean-going liners. The stewards on the boats thought they were a cut above the rest. But the rest of the crew dismissed them as merely chantie-wrasslers. m.Sc. 1996 Daily Record 30 Dec 13:
Yon big chanty wrastler just wannered me in the coupon: Pardon me, ref, but didn't you notice Pierre van Hooijdonk hitting me in the face as we challenged for that high ball?w.Lth. 1990 Sunday Times 7 Oct :
I've met they chanty-wrasslers
Wha smoor the brig wi' pent. Edb. 1989:
She thinks she's merried somebody rich, but he's nothin but a chanty wrassler. wm.Sc. 1954 Robin Jenkins The Thistle and the Grail (1994) 61:
"I'm a mug? Am I Carnegie, that I can throw away fourpence on that shower of chanty-wrastlers? ... " Arg. 1991:
chanty = chamber pot, but surviving only, as far as I am aware, in the expression 'chanty-wrastler', which is used disparagingly of a person. Gsw. 1962 Bill McGhee Cut and Run 175:
They're a shower o' "chanty-rasslers", an' he's the biggest layaboot o' the lot. Gsw. 1985 Michael Munro The Patter 15:
chanty wrastler A picturesque if vague insulting name. A chanty is a chamberpot and wrastler is a Scots form of wrestler. Could the term denote a menial who empties chamberpots? Gsw. 1988 George MacDonald Fraser The Sheikh and the Dustbin (1989) 41:
"Errol? A chanty-wrastler," said Fletcher - which, from that crafty young soldier, was interesting. A chanty-wrastler is a poseur, and unreliable.

Phrs.: (1) knee-high tae a chanty, also knee-heich tae a chunty, very young (Bnff., Ayr. 2000s); (2) the chanty'll burst, this association or friendship will break up (Bnff. 2000s). (2) Arg. 1993:
The chanty'll burst an there'll be a wile spleeter.