1818. P. EGAN, Boxiana. [A CHOPPER] is a blow, struck on the face with the back of the hand. Mendoza claims the honour of its invention, but unjustly; he certainly revived and considerably improved it. It was practised long before our time; Broughton occasionally used it; and Slack, it also appears, struck the CHOPPER in giving the return in many of his battles.
2. (trade).—A sausage maker.
1865. Pall Mall Gazette, 4 Sept., p. 9, col. 2. I was glad to get it off to a CHOPPER at last…. Dr. Letheby explained that a CHOPPER is the trade term for a sausage maker.
TO HAVE A CHOPPER, or BUTTON, ON, phr. (printers’).—To be miserable; ‘down in the dumps’ or in a fit of the ‘blues.’
