carry one on a chip v phr Also carry one around (or about) on a chip chiefly N Midl, Cent old-fash
To treat (one) with extraordinary care and attention; to coddle, pamper.
1873 Leavenworth Daily Commercial (KS) 22 July [2]/2, The people of Leavenworth respect Mr. Morton’s ability . . , but there are among them those who tolerate no man who is, so to speak, carried around on a chip borne by D. R. Anthony. 1885 Eve. Item (Richmond IN) 7 Sept 1/3, We submit that this is a bevy of ball players who should be even carried on a chip, if necessary; and it was heart-breaking to see them yelled at because they couldn’t knock the ball over the fence every time. 1892 Indiana Weekly Messenger (PA) 14 Sept [2]/6, Some weeks ago R. J. Godfrey, treasurer of the Order of Solons, visited this place and the order here got up a fine banquet in Library Hall in his honor and generally carried him about on a chip. 1911 Eve. Times–Republican (Marshalltown IA) 26 Oct 6/2, They wonder why the church or the lodge or whatever the society or association may be, doesn’t carry them on a chip. 1919 Emporia Gaz. (KS) [18 Oct 3]/5, They are being treated like temperamental actresses, and probably will have to be carried around on a chip until they forget their wrongs. 1933 AmSp 8.1.48 Ozarks, Carry on a chip. . . To treat overly well, to pamper, to spoil. They jest carried that ’ar boy on a chip till he aint no good for nothin’. 1942 McAtee Dial. Grant Co. IN 17 (as of 1890s), Carry one around on a chip, v. phr., cater to; treat with ostentatious consideration. 1942 Warnick Garrett Co. MD 5 nwMD (as of 1900–18), Carry around on a chip, v. phr., treat with unusual consideration. 1950 Dayton Daily News (OH) 22 May 23/2, [Letter:] He’s admitted his mother has always had to be carried on a chip, that she never liked me, and that she’s picked on me. 1968 Capital Jrl. (Salem OR) 25 Jan sec 1 4/7, [Letter:] If a university professor can be carried around on a chip there certainly should be equal consideration for those whose crimes against the government are no worse than those committed by one who “knows the right people.” 1978 Daily Press (Newport News VA) 27 July [4]/2, The 1944 G.I. Bill was a generous act . . . But it was hardly the thought that veterans would continue to be carried on a chip for all time. 2003 DARE File MO (as of 1930s), Then there was the descriptive phase applied to an over-solicitous mother or male sweetheart who “carried” her child or his beloved “on a chip” or “around on a chip.”