chop

CHOP, verb transitive 1. To cut off or separate, by striking with a sharp instrument, either by a single blow or by repeated blows; as, to chop off a head; to chop wood. 2. To cut into small pieces; to mince; as, to chop meat; to chop straw. 3. To grand and mince with the teeth; to devour eagerly; with up; as, to chop up an entertainment. 4. To break or open into chinks or fissures; to crack; to chap. [See Chap.] CHOP, verb intransitive 1. To buy, or rather to barter, truck, exchange. 2. To exchange; to put one thing in the place of another; as, to chop and change our friends. 3. To bandy; to altercate; to return one word or thing for another. Let not the council chop with the judge. CHOP, verb intransitive To turn, vary, change or shift suddenly; as in the seamans phrase, the wind chops, or chops about. [The various senses of this verb seem to center in that of thrusting, driving, or a sudden motion or exertion of force.] CHOP, noun 1. A piece chopped off; a small piece of meat; as a mutton chop 2. A crack or cleft. See Chap, which, with the broad sound of a, is often pronounced chap. 3. The chap; the jaw; plural The jaws; the mouth; the sides of a rivers mouth or channel. [See Chap.]