Chop and Chops

Chop and change (To). To barter by the rule of thumb. Boys “chop” one article for another (Anglo-Saxon, cip-an, or ceáp-ian, to sell or barter).

A mutton chop is from the French coup-er, to cut off. A piece chopped off.

The wind chops about. Shifts from point to point suddenly. This is cip-an, to barter or change hands. (See above To Chop and Change.)

“How the House of Lords and House of Commons chopped round.”—Thackeray: The Four Georges (George I.).

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.