| charpoy | n. | Indian bedstead using rope or tape netting | ||
| charwoman | n. | day-laboring woman hired to perform general cleaning around house or office | ||
| chary | adj. | wary, shy, sparing, choosy | ||
| chastise | v. | to punish; to castigate, to criticize severely | ||
| chasuble | n. | outer sleeveless garment worn over other priestly garments by the celebrant | ||
| chatelaine | n. | ornamental chains attached to a woman’s belt, used for carrying keys, scissors, or other tools | ||
| chatoyant | adj. | of changing luster or color; of jewelry cut so that a streak of light is reflected | ||
| chautauqua | n. | assembly for social education and entertainment, originally held in Chautauqua, New York each summer in late 19th and early 20th centuries | ||
| cheese-paring | adj. | parsimonious, stingy | ||
| chela | n. | pincer claw of crustacean or scorpion | ||
| chelicera | n. | one of the pair of claws before the mouth of certain arachnids and horshoe crabs | ||
| chelonian | adj. | of or related to turtles | ||
| chemotropic | adj. | characterized by movement or growth in response to a particular substance | ||
| chequered | adj. | marked by the vicissitudes of fortune | ||
| chert | n. | flinty quartz rock | ||
| cheval glass | n. | full-length swinging mirror hung in a frame | ||
| cheval-de-frise | n. | portable obstacle of wood or iron shaped like a larger toy ‘jack’, used to stop cavalry charges or otherwise impede military movements; spikes or glass embedded into the top of a wall | ||
| chevauchee | n. | calvary raid into enemy territory | ||
| cheviot | n. | coarse woolen twill fabric | ||
| chibouque | n. | very long-stemmed Turkish pipe for tobacco (also chibouk) | ||
| chicane | n. | 1 | subterfuge, trick | |
| chicane | v. | to quibble, cavil | ||
| chicane | n. | 2 | S-curve in racing course; obstacle in roadway designed to discourage speeding | |
| chide | v. | to rebuke, to find fault | ||
| chiel | n. | young lad, fellow | Scots | |
| chiffonier | n. | short sideboard enclosed by doors, sometimes with shelves at top; tall and narrow chest of drawers, often topped by a mirror; rag-picker | ||
| chifforobe | n. | furniture piece with both drawers and a rod for hanging clothes | ||
| chiliad | n. | group of 1,000; 1,000 year period | ||
| chiliasm | n. | belief in the prophesied reign of Christ on earth for a thousand years | ||
| chiliocosm | n. | grouping of many worlds in Buddhist teaching | ||
| chine | n. | 1 | backbone or spine of animal; cut of meat containing the backbone | |
| chine | n. | 2 | steep valley formed by running water | |
| chingle | n. | gravel | Scots | |
| chirality | n. | asymmetry of chemical compounds which cannot be superimposed upon its mirror image, ‘handedness’ | ||
| chirographically | adv. | as related to penmanship | ||
| chirography | n. | handwriting | ||
| chiromancer | n. | (also cheiromancer) palm reader | ||
| chiropodist | n. | foot doctor | ||
| chlamydeous | adj. | having floral parts, either calyx or corolla or both | ||
| chlamys | n. | short cloak worn by ancient Greeks; longer mantle worn during Byzantine epoch | ||
| choad | n. | short and squat penis; loser; perineum | slang | |
| chocolate soldier | n. | soldier who never sees combat; one unwilling to fight | slang | |
| choler | n. | anger, ire, irritability | ||
| chop-logic | n. | disputatious or tendentious argumentation, quibbling | ||
| chopine | n. | thick soled, almost stilt-like, shoes worn by European women in 18th Century | ||
| choucroute | n. | sauerkraut | ||
| chough | n. | birds belonging to a genus within the crow family | ||
| chouse | v. | to cheat, to swindle | slang | |
| chrism | n. | consecrated oil mixed with balm, used as unguent for certain sacraments; sacramental anointing | ||
| chryselephantine | adj. | of or covered with gold and ivory |
