DCHP-2

chinse chinch, chintz DCHP-2 (July 2016)

• 1 v. — Newfoundland, Construction, somewhat rare

  to stuff or pack tightly; to caulk.

  Type: 2. Preservation — According to OED-3 (s.v. "chinse"), chinse is a corruption of "chinch", a dialectal variation of the verb "chink", meaning 'to fill up'. In Canada, its use is limited to Newfoundland, where it has been preserved from West Country English (EDD, s.v. "chinch"). On the island, it usually refers to the packing of various materials into the cracks of houses (see the 1770 quotation) or the seams of boats (see the 1920 quotation). The etymology of the term is unclear but the historical attestations of these two specific meanings suggests semantic extension of meaning 1 to include a general meaning of 'be stuffed' or 'full' in the adjectival sense (see meaning 2).
  See also COD-2, s.v. "chinse", which is marked "N Amer. (Maritimes & New England)", DNE, s.v. "chinse".

  See also: stog  

• 2 adj. — Newfoundland

  stuffed with something; at full capacity.

  Type: 3. Semantic Change — Chinched, the most frequent spelling variant for this meaning, refers to the state of being at maximum capacity, 'full to the brim'. It can also be used to describe a place filled with people (see, for example, the 1921 quotation). This term appears most frequently in Canada (see Chart 1).