Etymology Uncertain; possibly from the English slang term chat (“louse”). The word predates the chadless punch, which therefore cannot be its origin, and a derivation from Scots chad (“river gravel”) stated in some dictionaries is now thought to be nothing more than guesswork.
1
Small pieces of paper punched out from the edges of continuous stationery, or from ballot papers, paper tape, punched cards, etc.
The keypunch wasn't named after a Mr. Chadless; it was so named because, as expected, it punched tape while producing little or no chad.2011 June 1, David P. Mikkelson, “Chad: Does the word ‘chad’ come from the Chadless keypunch, invented by a Mr. Chadless?”, in Snopes.com, retrieved 07 Sep 2016:
2
One of these pieces of paper.
Prior devices of the type according to the present invention have been arranged to cut out the perforations completely at a single movement, thereby producing chads or waste material which often present difficult problems of disposal.1939 May 20, Ross A. Lake, Printing Perforating Telegraph Apparatus, US Patent 2255794:
The small hinged discs of paper, called ‘chad’, remain attached to the body of the tape.1959, J[ohn] W[illiam] Freebody, Telegraphy, London: Isaac Pitman & Sons, →OCLC:
1 more example
Much of the controversy seems to revolve around ballot cards designed to be perforated by a stylus but which, either through error or deliberate omission, have not been perforated with sufficient precision for a machine to count them. In some cases a piece of the card—a chad—is hanging, say by two corners. In other cases there is no separation at all, just an indentation.2000 December 12, Supreme Court of the United States, per curiam, “Bush v. Gore”, in United States Reports, volume 531, page 98 at 105:
Chad et in my meend, and zo chave still. Bet chawnt drow et out bevore tha begen'st agen, and than chell.1839, An Exmoor Scolding, London: John Russell Smith, page 11:
Chad
noun
Etymology From Middle English Chadde, from Old English Ċeadda, of obscure meaning; name of a seventh-century Anglo-Saxon saint, revived in the 20th century. The sense of “alpha male” originates from an apparent stereotype that men with such a name tend to bear that temperament, first attested in c. late 1990s in Chicago, Illinois (specifically "successful white man, yuppie"), but in common usage only as of the late 2010s via 4chan slang.
1
Lifestyle, Seduction community, SexualityInternet A very handsome, genetically gifted and sexually active man whom women find sexually attractive; at times seen as an alpha male of a group.
They are united by the fact that women will not have sex with them, usually attributed to shallow obsessions with looks or superficial personality, and by their hatred of “Chads” and “Stacys”, the men and women who have sex.2018 April 25, Alex Hern, “Who are the 'incels' and how do they relate to Toronto van attack?”, in The Guardian:
Short for “female humanoid”, it’s used in place of the word “woman” to depict how, in an incel’s view, women are not entirely human, but are instead robot-like androids who only crave sex with Chads.2018 April 28, Kate Wilson, “Last week in tech: sex robots”, in The Georgia Straight: