chop1

 
Pronunciation: /tʃɒp/

verb (chops, chopping, chopped)

  • 1 [with object] cut (something) into pieces with repeated sharp blows of an axe or knife: they chopped up the pulpit for firewood finely chop 200g of skipjack tuna
  • (chop something off) remove something by cutting: a paper guillotine chopped off all four fingers
  • cut through the base of (a tree or similar plant) with blows from an axe or other implement, in order to fell it: the boy chopped down eight trees
  • strike (something) with a short heavy blow, as if cutting at something: Benson chopped the ball onto the stumps
  • 2abolish or reduce the size of (something) in a way regarded as ruthless: their training courses are to be chopped

noun

  • 1a downward cutting blow or movement, typically with the hand: an effective chop to the back of the neck
  • 2a thick slice of meat, especially pork or lamb, adjacent to and often including a rib: he lived on liver or chops
  • 3Australian/NZ informal a person’s share of something.
  • 4 [mass noun] North American crushed or ground grain used as animal feed: the pile of chop was dropped into the calves' feeder
  • 5 [in singular] the broken motion of water, owing to the action of the wind against the tide: we started our run into a two-foot chop

Phrases

the chop

British informal
dismissal from employment: hundreds more workers have been given the chop
cancellation or abolition: all these projects are destined for the chop
the action of killing someone or the fact of being killed: seven men we all knew had got the chop

chop logic

argue in a tiresomely pedantic way; quibble.
[ mid 16th century: from a dialect use of chop meaning 'bandy words']

Origin:

late Middle English: variant of chap1