[f. CHOP v.1]
1. The action of CHOP v.1, in various senses.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. IX. 167. Many a peire … In ialousye ioyeles and ianglyng on bedde Haue þei no children but cheste and choppyng hem bitwene.
1577. Holinshed, Descr. Brit., I. xi. (R.). The sensible chopping in of three or foure tides in one naturall daie.
1669. Worlidge, Syst. Agric., vii. (1681), 123. Clay well tempered with Horse-dung to keep the same from chopping.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 323. Chopping of blocks.
b. with adverb.
1548. Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Acts, 46 a. In chopping of Iohns head.
1577. trans. Bullinger’s Decades (1592), 233. An adulteresse, at the chopping off of whose head seuen strokes were giuen.
1618. Bolton, Florus, III. iv. 677. Nothing so terrifide the barbarous, as the chopping off their hands.
† 2. A result or product of chopping. Obs.
1558. Phaër, Æneid., IV. L ij b. Could I not of Ascanius chopping [have] made? and dresse for meate His flesh?
1585. Lloyd, Treas. Health, R iij. Englishe Galangale healethe the choppynges & depe woundes.
1653. H. Cogan, trans. Pinto’s Trav., xxxi. § 1 (1663), 122. They know … what creatures they are, by the choppings they make of them.
3. Short and abrupt motion, of the sea, waves, etc.
1633. T. James, Voy., 25. The Anker hitcht againe, and vpon the chopping of a Sea, threw the men from the Capstang.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 348. A rippling and chopping of the waves.
4. attrib. and Comb., as chopping-block, -board, -machine, -tool; chopping-knife, (a.) a cleaver for cutting up, a chopper; (b.) a knife with a handle at each end, for mincing meat, suet, etc.; chopping-stick (see CHAPPING vbl. sb. 2).
1703. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 196. The *Chopping-Block is … made of a piece of Elm-Tree.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 388. The Chopping-block is used for reducing bricks to any required form by means of the axe.
1865. Gosse, Land & Sea (1874), 118. A thrush’s chopping-block…. Birds of this family feed largely on snails, and … carry their prey to some selected stone, against which they hammer.
1675. Hobbes, Odyss., 210. A *chopping-board was near him.
1855. Dickens, Dorrit (Hoppe). A medley of … chopping-boards, rolling pins, and pie crust.
1552. Huloet, Bochers axe, or *Choppynge knyfe.
1694. Acc. Sev. Late Voy., II. xi. (1711), 181. They also have … a Chopping knife, to cut off the Rope.
1837. Whittock, Bk. Trades (1842), 81. The meat is cut small with a chopping-knife.
1882. Mrs. H. Reeve, Cookery & Housek., iv. (ed. 2), 19. The *chopping-machine … should be freed from all particles adhering after use.
1681. Colvil, Whigs Supplic. (1751), 71. It is the simplest of all tricks To suffer fools have *chopping sticks.
