chop

chop¹ cut

Etymology

The verb "to cut" is choppen, probably a variant of chappen (“to split, crack open”), the source of chap;^[2][1][5][6] it is not found in Old English.^[2][7] The OED finds the evidence for which of the two forms came first inconclusive, and compares Dutch kappen (“to chop, cut, mince”), Middle Low German kappen and Danish kappe with the same meaning.^[7] Barnhart explains the change of vowel by comparison with strap and strop,^[2] and Klein sees an ablaut relation between choppen and chappen.^[8] Etymonline also suggests a possible source in Old French choper, a variant of coper (“to cut”), the ancestor of couper.^[9] The noun comes from the verb.^[7][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To cut with a quick, heavy blow: 1362, in Langland's Piers Plowman;^[7] the noun, a cutting blow, is first recorded in the same poem.^[7][2] Merriam-Webster gives the 14th century for both,^[1] and Etymonline the mid-14th century.^[9]

Semantic evolution

In early use the blow could be struck with a sword, but the verb came to be used of hewing tools such as the axe and cleaver.^[7] With adverbs such as off, down and in pieces it is recorded from 1393, and the sense "to cut into small pieces, mince" from about 1400, in the alliterative Morte Arthure.^[7] The noun meaning a piece cut off is recorded from about 1463,^[7][9] and the slice of meat with a rib, usually mutton or pork, from before 1640, in Massinger;^[7] Etymonline suggests it was so named from being chopped from the loin.^[9] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as a piece chopped off and a small piece of meat, commonly mutton.^[10] From the 16th century the verb also meant to thrust or move suddenly,^[7] and in cricket it meant to bring the bat down sharply on the ball from 1776.^[7] In Australia and New Zealand a chop is a wood-chopping contest (1926),^[7] and the slang phrase be in for one's chop, to claim a share, dates from 1919.^[7] Collins records the informal British sense of dispensing with something or reducing it,^[11] and Merriam-Webster the chop, dismissal, as chiefly British.^[1] In Leicestershire hay-making, to chop was to rake hay quickly into rows.^[12]

Timeline

• 1362 – to cut with a heavy blow; a cutting blow.^[7]
• 1393 – with adverbs, to chop off, down, in pieces.^[7]
• c. 1400 – to cut into small pieces.^[7]
• c. 1463 – a piece chopped off.^[7]
• a1640 – a slice of meat with a rib.^[7]
• 1776 – (cricket) to bring the bat down sharply on the ball.^[7]
• 1865 – to utter in short, broken phrases.^[7]
• 1926 – (Australia, New Zealand) a wood-chopping contest.^[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To cut something with a quick, heavy blow of an axe, cleaver or similar tool, often with down or off: They chopped down the old pear tree.
2. To cut into small pieces, often with up; to mince or dice: Chop the onions finely.
3. (British, informal) To cut, reduce or get rid of something such as a job or a budget.
4. To strike with a short, sharp, downward blow, as in boxing or karate; in sport, to hit a ball sharply downward.

Noun

1. A cutting blow made with an axe or similar tool; a short, sharp blow with the side of the hand.
2. A thick slice of meat, usually pork or lamb, cut with the rib: a lamb chop.
3. the chop (chiefly British, informal): dismissal from a job, or the cancelling of something.
4. (Australia, New Zealand) A wood-chopping contest.

Word family

• chopper
• chopping
• choppy
• chopping board
• chopping block

chop² barter

Etymology

The verb "to barter" is choppen (“to barter, bargain”), a variant of chappen,^[1][5][2] which goes back through chepen, inherited from Old English cēapian (“to buy, trade”),^[2][5][6] from cēap (“bargain, trade”), the source of cheap.^[5][3] Hoad thinks the form was influenced by chapman.^[13] The OED is more cautious, calling the word of uncertain origin; it notes that the compound choppe-churche, a trader in church livings, implies the verb before 1400, and finds no reason to connect it with West Flemish kopen (“to buy”) or Old Norse kaupa.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To barter, to make an exchange: about 1485, in the Digby Mysteries, in the phrase to choppe and change;^[7] Barnhart finds the gerund chopping, bargaining, before 1438.^[2] Etymonline dates the sense "to bargain" to the early 15th century.^[9]

Semantic evolution

In the alliterative phrase chop and change, the meaning moved from bartering to changing about, as the sense of chop faded;^[7] to change one's ways is recorded from about 1541.^[7][2] The idea of change then passed to chop alone, especially of the wind veering suddenly (before 1642), and figuratively of people turning with the wind (1657).^[7][13] To chop logic, to bandy arguments, is recorded from 1528, in Skelton.^[7][9] The simple sense "to barter" survived in English dialect: in Lincolnshire a man might chop his grey mare for a blind horse, and the word was used of exchanging horses in Norfolk.^[12] Merriam-Webster labels this sense dialectal in England.^[1]

Timeline

• before 1438 – chopping, bargaining.^[2]
• c. 1485 – to barter, in chop and change.^[7]
• 1528 – chop logic, to bandy arguments.^[7]
• c. 1541 – chop and change, to change about.^[7]
• a1642 – of the wind, to change direction suddenly.^[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. chop and change (chiefly British): to keep changing one's mind, plans or methods.
2. Of the wind, to veer or change direction suddenly, usually with round or about.
3. chop logic: to argue in an overly fine or quibbling way.
4. (dialect) To barter or exchange: He chopped his old bike for a fishing rod.

Word family

• chop logic

chop³ jaw

Etymology

The jaw is a variant of chap in the same sense,^[7][1][3] which is of unknown origin;^[3] the OED suggests the vowel changed through association with the other words in which the vowels a and o alternate.^[7] Barnhart thinks it is perhaps related to the verb "to cut".^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A jaw: before 1513, in William Dunbar's Flyting,^[7] though Barnhart dates choppe "jaw" to about 1400, with an earlier form cheppe from 1373.^[2] Hoad and Ayto date the word to the 15th century.^[13][3]

Semantic evolution

Usually in the plural, chops has meant the jaws or the sides of the face since 1615, and the mouth and its parts since 1589, often humorously or contemptuously.^[7] From 1636 it was applied to the mouth or entrance of a valley, channel or cannon, and the chops of the Channel is the western entrance to the English Channel (1692).^[7][13] In jazz slang chops was first a trumpeter's lip strength (1937) and then a musician's technique (1968), and so skill in any field.^[7] In English dialect chops meant the jaws, cheeks or mouth, a bird's beak, and impudence.^[12]

Timeline

• 1373 – cheppe, jaw.^[2]
• ?a1513 – a jaw.^[7]
• 1589 – chops, the mouth.^[7]
• 1636 – the mouth or entrance of a valley or channel.^[7]
• 1937 – chops, a trumpeter's lip strength.^[7]
• 1968 – chops, a musician's technical skill.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. chops (plural): the jaws, cheeks or mouth of a person or animal: The dog sat licking its chops.
2. chops (plural): the mouth or entrance of a channel or valley.
3. chops (plural, informal): technical skill, especially a musician's.

chop⁴ stamp

Etymology

The seal or stamp is borrowed from Hindi छाप (chhāp, “impression, print, stamp, brand”).^{[7][4][1][11]} European traders carried the word to China, where it kept senses that had died out in India.^[7] Wiktionary notes that the related Malay cap probably reinforced its use in the Malay world.^[4] Hobson-Jobson could not trace the Hindi word further back than the modern languages.^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

In India and China, a seal or its impression; an official stamp: 1614, in Purchas's Pilgrimage.^[7] Merriam-Webster gives the same year.^[1]

Semantic evolution

From the seal, the word passed to a document made valid by one, a licence or permit (1699, in Dampier),^[7] and in the China trade to a mark on goods showing their quality, and so to a brand or class of goods (1828).^[7] From this came the Anglo-Indian and colloquial first chop and second chop, first-rate and second-rate (1823).^[7] In Australian and New Zealand slang not much chop means of little value (1909),^[7] and Green's Dictionary of Slang records chop as something valued from 1823 in Australia.^[15]

Timeline

• 1614 – a seal or official stamp, in India and China.^[7]
• 1699 – a licence or permit made valid by a seal.^[7]
• 1823 – first chop, first-rate.^[7]
• 1828 – a trademark on goods; a brand or quality.^[7]
• 1909 – (Australia, New Zealand) not much chop, of little value.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. (historical, in India and the China trade) An official seal or stamp, or a permit made valid by one.
2. A mark on goods showing their quality; a brand or grade: first-chop tea.
3. not much chop (Australia, New Zealand, informal): not very good.