[f. CHOP v.1 + -ING2.]
1. Interrupted by chops or breaks; in fits and starts; not continuous; jerky; abrupt; broken.
1483. Vulgaria abs Terentio, 17 a. Lettist me so wyth thy choppynge spekynge.
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., V. iii. 124. The chopping French we do not vnderstand.
1614. T. Adams, Devil’s Banquet, Pref. Let me intreat thee, not to giue my Booke the chopping censure…. Do not open it at a ventures, & by reading the broken pieces of two or three lines, iudge it.
1882. J. Parker, Apost. Life (1884), III. 116. The man of one idea has a short and chopping way of speaking about other people.
1883. Fisheries Exhib. Catal., 46. The crew … pull a very short chopping stroke.
2. Of the sea, waves, etc.: Giving a short, jerky movement (to things floating); breaking in short, abrupt waves, the result of a strong wind blowing against a tide or current, or of a change of wind, etc.
[1622. Chapping sea: see CHAPPING ppl. a. 2.]
1632. Lithgow, Trav., IX. (1682), 380. We met with two contrary chopping Tides.
1633. T. James, Voy., 25. There went a chopping short Sea.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xxxv. 135. A stift breeze … directly against the course of the current, made an ugly, chopping sea.
1877. D. M. Wallace, Russia, i. 20. The sledge … bobs up and down like a boat in a chopping sea.
1879. Long, Æneid, V. 248. Malea’s chopping waves.
