Page:Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant (1889) by Barrere & Leland.djvu/276

 Chootah (Anglo-Indian), small, insignificant.

Chop (pidgin and Anglo-Indian), properly, a seal, stamp, or impression. Used to indicate quality, as in "first chop," i.e. stamped or branded, or marked as the best. Hindu, ch'hāp. It is used on the Eastern seas also for certificate, pass, license, signature. Chop-house, a custom-house.

Chop, to (turf), to beat. Essex dialect, chop, to flog. From chop or chap, to cut.

(Sport), to outstrip, catch.

Chop-chop (pidgin), quick, quickly, make haste, look sharp. Cantonese, kăp-kăp; Mandarin, kip-kip. "In the Northern dialects kwai-kwai, quick, quick, is more usual" (Bishop Moule).

Chopper, chopping blow (boxing), a short, downward blow with the knuckles, delivered from the elbow. One of the most clumsy, ineffective, and most easily parried blows that could be resorted to. It was nevertheless a favourite with Slack (champion, 1750–60).

 (printers). A man when miserable or "down in the dumps" is said to have a chopper on.

Chopping girl (old slang), a very young female who exhibits sexual precocity. One who has la cuisse gaie, as the French slang humorously expresses it.

Choppy (American), applied to a broken, hillocky county.

Chops (popular), the mouth. A "wipe in the chops," a blow on the face; "down in the chops," sad. Chops is a nickname given by schoolboys to one who has well-developed maxillaries.

Chōr, chãr (gypsy), grass. Hindu, chara, fodder.

Chore (gypsy), a thief, to steal. "Kai did tute chore adovo?"—"Where did you steal that?" Hindu, chor, a thief.

Chores (American), odd jobs. A "choreman" is a handy man, a Jack of all trades.