choss

A colloquial form of chaos.

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃɒs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

choss (uncountable)

1. (climbing) Rock that is unsuitable for rock climbing, e.g. because it is too soft, unstable, or overgrown.
2. (informal) chaos
   • 1968, Doreen Wallace, Ashbury People, →ISBN, page 314:

     One's for ever in a state of choss or chassis and I hate it.

   • 1981, James Barnett, The firing squad, →ISBN, page 189:

     With a 'begging your pardon, miss,' to a stoically resigned Elstow, he went on, 'I take the mum and dad back to Paphos for a month, and when I gets back, the office is in a right state of choss. A right boss-eyed state of choss.'

   • 1986, Margaret Mitchell, Richard Barksdale Harwell, Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the wind letters, 1936–1949, →ISBN, page 173:

     We have been in a state of choss for some time, and the smell of newly painted woodwork was so bad that it gave both of us colds and bronchial coughs and sent us to the Biltmore for a week until the house had dried out.

• chossy

• SOHCs