Library / English Dictionary

CHOP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: chopped    , chopping   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A grounder that bounces high in the air

Synonyms:

chop; chopper

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("chop" is a kind of...):

ground ball; groundball; grounder; hopper ((baseball) a hit that travels along the ground)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A tennis return made with a downward motion that puts backspin on the ball

Synonyms:

chop; chop shot

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("chop" is a kind of...):

return (a tennis stroke that sends the ball back to the other player)

Derivation:

chop (strike sharply, as in some sports)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A jaw

Example:

I'll hit him on the chops

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("chop" is a kind of...):

jaw (the part of the skull of a vertebrate that frames the mouth and holds the teeth)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A small cut of meat including part of a rib

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("chop" is a kind of...):

cut; cut of meat (a piece of meat that has been cut from an animal carcass)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "chop"):

mutton chop (chop cut from a mature sheep)

lamb-chop; lamb chop; lambchop (chop cut from a lamb)

porkchop (chop cut from a hog)

Derivation:

chop (cut into pieces)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The irregular motion of waves (usually caused by wind blowing in a direction opposite to the tide)

Example:

the boat headed into the chop

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Hypernyms ("chop" is a kind of...):

physical phenomenon (a natural phenomenon involving the physical properties of matter and energy)

Derivation:

choppy (rough with small waves)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Hit sharply

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "chop" is one way to...):

hit; strike (make a strategic, offensive, assault against an enemy, opponent, or a target)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cut with a hacking tool

Synonyms:

chop; hack

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "chop" is one way to...):

cut (separate with or as if with an instrument)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "chop"):

ax; axe (chop or split with an ax)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

The chefs chop the vegetables

Also:

chop down (cut down)

chop off (remove by or as if by cutting)

chop up (cut into pieces)

Derivation:

chopper (a butcher's knife having a large square blade)

chopper (informal terms for a human 'tooth')

Sense 3

Meaning:

Cut into pieces

Example:

chop meat

Synonyms:

chop; chop up

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "chop" is one way to...):

cut (separate with or as if with an instrument)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "chop"):

hash (chop up)

mince (cut into small pieces)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

The chefs chop the vegetables

Derivation:

chop (a small cut of meat including part of a rib)

chopper (a butcher's knife having a large square blade)

chopper (informal terms for a human 'tooth')

Sense 4

Meaning:

Strike sharply, as in some sports

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "chop" is one way to...):

strike (deliver a sharp blow, as with the hand, fist, or weapon)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

chop (a tennis return made with a downward motion that puts backspin on the ball)

chopper (a grounder that bounces high in the air)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Form or shape by chopping

Example:

chop a hole in the ground

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "chop" is one way to...):

create; make (make or cause to be or to become)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 6

Meaning:

Move suddenly

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "chop" is one way to...):

move (move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Credits

 Context examples: 

"The East African Highland cooking banana is an excellent source of starch. It is harvested green then chopped and steamed," Professor Dale said.

(Golden Bananas High in Pro-Vitamin A Developed, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

I sawed and chopped and chiselled the weathered wood till it had the appearance of having been gnawed by some gigantic mouse.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

For, hark ye: granting, propter argumentum, that I am a talker, then the true reasoning runs that since all men of sense should avoid me, and thou hast not avoided me, but art at the present moment eating herrings with me under a holly-bush, ergo you are no man of sense, which is exactly what I have been dinning into your long ears ever since I first clapped eyes on your sunken chops.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“I see well enough,” said the witch, “that you can do no more today, but I will keep you yet another night, in payment for which you must tomorrow chop me a load of wood, and chop it small.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

They measured the ME in different forms of almonds and the Atwater factors - traditionally, calorie values for foods are calculated using the Atwater system - overestimated the ME of whole raw, whole roasted, and chopped roasted almonds by 25 percent, 19 percent, and 17 percent, respectively.

(Going Nuts Over Calories, U.S. Department of Agriculture)

Alternatively, you may have been dealing with a psycho landlord, or a roommate who ate up all your lamb chops and left you with no dinner and only an inch of milk (or almond milk) in the container for coffee.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

The wind was very favourable; however, I made use at first only of my paddles; but considering I should soon be weary, and that the wind might chop about, I ventured to set up my little sail; and thus, with the help of the tide, I went at the rate of a league and a half an hour, as near as I could guess.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Wolves is fine things in a storybook, and I dessay when they gets in packs and does be chivyin' somethin' that's more afeared than they is they can make a devil of a noise and chop it up, whatever it is.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The dogs had stopped beside a water- hole, not a fissure, but a hole man-made, chopped laboriously with an axe through three and a half feet of ice.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

“And Jip must have a mutton-chop every day at twelve, or he'll die.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)