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1593. G. Harvey, Pierces Super., in wks. II., 115. To mangle my sentences, hack my arguments, CHOPP AND CHANGE my phrases.
1672. Wycherley, Love in a Wood, wks. V. (1713), 431. We have CHOP'D AND CHANG'D, and hid our Christina's so long, and often, that at last, we have drawn each of us our own?
1706. E. Coles, Eng. Diet. Chop Church, CHANGING of one Church for another.
1883. Principal Shairp, in Good Words, Jan., p. 27. The politicians seemed bent on making the Church a tool which they might CHOP AND CHANGE as the political wind blew.
First Chop, Second Chop, etc. (q.v.).
Chop-Chop, adv. (pidgin).—Immediately;
quickly.
1878. Jas. Payn, By Proxy, ch. ii. 'Chow-chow is not fish, but food,' explained Conway, laughing, 'and CHOP-CHOP only means directly.'
Chopper or Chopping Blow, subs.
(pugilistic).—1. See quotation.
For synonyms, see Dig, Bang,
and Wipe.
1819. Thos. Moore, Tom Crib's Memorial to Congress, pref., p. 30. A CHOPPER is a blow, struck on the face with the back of the hand. Mendoza claims the honour of its invention, but unjustly; he certainly revived, and considerably improved it. It was practised long before our time—Broughton occasionally used it; and Slack, it also appears, struck the CHOPPER in giving the return in many of his battles.
2. (trade).—A sausage maker.
1865. Pall Mall Gazette, 4 Sept., p. 9, col. 2. I was glad to get it off to a CHOPPER at last. . . . Dr. Letheby explained that a CHOPPER is the trade term for a sausage maker.
To Have a Chopper, or Button, On, phr. (printers').—To be miserable; 'down in the dumps' or in a fit of the 'blues.'
Chopping, adj. (old).—Sexually
forward; said of girls unduly
'vain and amatorious.' [An extension
in sense of CHOPPING =
strapping, thumping, bouncing,
etc.] The French express it by
avoir la cuisse gaie.
Chopping-Block, subs. (pugilistic).—A
man like a butcher's block,
i.e., who takes an immense
amount of 'punishment' in a
fight without the science or the
strength to return it.
Chops. To lick the chops, phr.
(common).—See quots. [Chops =
the mouth, lips, jaws.] Fr.,
les jaffes.
1655. Fellowes, tr., Milton's 2nd Defence, 227. The sight of this egg . . . caused our monarchy-men . . . to LICK THEIR CHOPS. [M.]
1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 6, Manager. Of course then the Tories will take office? Punch. I rayther suspect they will. Have they not been LICKING THEIR CHOPS for ten years outside the Treasury door while the sneaking Whigs were helping themselves to all the fat tit-bits within?
Down in the Chops Or Mouth, phr. (colloquial).—Sad, melancholy. Cf., To have A Chopper On.
1830. Sir E. B. Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 28, ed. 1854. 'Vy, Paul, my kid, you looks DOWN IN THE CHOPS; cheer up, care killed a cat.'
1868. Brewer, Phrase and Fable. Down in the Chops—i.e., down in the mouth; in a melancholy state; with the mouth drawn down. Chop or chap is Saxon for mouth; we still say a pig's chap.
Chop the Whiners, verbal phr.
(thieves').—To say prayers.
[From an extended use of
CHOP in the sense of to
bandy words—hence to speak +
whiners (q.v.), prayers.] Fr.,
manger sa paillasse.
