CHIAOUS, a word in the original Turkish, signifying "envoys," are officers to the number of five or six hundred in the grand signior's court, under the command of a chiaoous baschi. They frequently meet in the grand vizir's palace, that they may be in readiness to execute his orders, and carry his dispatches into all the provinces of the empire. The chiaoous baschi assists at the divan, and introduces those who have business there.