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chitties noun plural a tripod with irons, chains and a hook for holding a cooking pot or kettle: Before hanging the big black pot on the iron chitties straddling the fire ... 20-. etymology: origin obscure perhaps only found in Scots Tinker usage; attested by Galloway Tinkler-Gypsies; attested by JS, BS in TDITA, SS and BW note:

Smart & Crofton (1875) collected the form chíti ‘a chain’ from English Gypsies so perhaps the above is a development of this. They, in turn, suggest that it is perhaps a development from German kette ‘a necklace’.

Canadian Paul Pope (2013) cites the forms chittie and chitties with the same meaning.