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Origin and history of chopping

chopping(adj.)

"large and thriving," 1560s, present-participle adjective from chop (v.). Compare strapping, whopping in similar sense. Chopper "a stout, lusty child" is colloquial from c. 1600.

chopping. An epithet frequently applied to infants, by way of ludicrous commendation: imagined by Skinner to signify lusty, from cas Sax. by others to mean a child that would bring money at a market. Perhaps a greedy, hungry child, likely to live. [Johnson]

also from 1560s

Entries linking to chopping

chop(v.1)

"to cut with a quick blow," mid-14c., of uncertain origin, not found in Old English, perhaps from Old North French choper (Old French coper "to cut, cut off," 12c., Modern French couper), from Vulgar Latin *cuppare "to behead," from a root meaning "head," but influenced in Old French by couper "to strike" (see coup). There are similar words in continental Germanic (Dutch, German kappen "to chop, cut").

Related: Chopped; chopping. Chopping-block "block of wood on which anything (especially food) is laid to be chopped" is from 1703.

strapping(adj.)

"tall and sturdy, robust," originally applied to women, 1650s, from present participle of strap (v.), apparently in the sense of "to beat with a strap."

Compare similar senses in whopping, spanking (1660s), bouncing (1570s), cracking, thumping (1570s), ripping, smashing, whacking (1806), walloping (1847), yanking "thoroughgoing" (1824), and other present-participle adjectives of violent action expressing something very large and lusty in size or effect. Swapping "very big" is by mid-15c. from swap in the old sense of "to strike, hit." The pattern continues in modern slang: Zonking "great, big," by 1959 from zonk "hit hard" (1950). Also compare howling. For the agent-noun variations, see whopper.

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    bill
    [ancient weapon] Old English bill "sword (especially one with a hooked blade), chopping tool," from Proto-Germanic *bili-..., a word for cutting or chopping weapons (compare Old Saxon bil "sword," Middle Dutch bile, Dutch bijl, Old High German bihal...
    machete
    used as a weapon and tool by the Spanish in the Americas, 1590s (in pseudo-Spanish form macheto), from Spanish machete "a chopping...
    hack
    "to cut roughly, cut with chopping blows," c. 1200, from verb found in stem of Old English tohaccian "hack to pieces," from...
    uppercut
    Perhaps the image is of chopping a tree by making cuts up (as well as down) in the trunk....
    axe
    "edged instrument for hewing timber and chopping wood," also a battle weapon, Old English æces (Northumbrian acas) "axe,...
    hash
    1650s, "to hack, chop into small pieces," from French hacher "chop up" (14c.), from Old French hache "ax" (see hatchet). Hash browns (1926) is short for hashed browned potatoes (1886), with the -ed omitted, as in mash potatoes. The hash marks on a football field were so called by
    shah
    title of the king of Persia, 1560s, shaw, from Persian shah "a king, the ruler of a land," shortened from Old Persian xšayathiya "king," from Indo-Iranian *ksayati "he has power over, rules" from PIE *tke- "to gain control of, gain power over" (source also of Sanskrit ksatram "do
    strike
    Middle English striken, from Old English strican (past tense strac, past participle stricen) "pass lightly over, stroke, smooth, rub" (senses now obsolete), also "go, move, proceed, make one's way," from Proto-Germanic *strikanan (source also of Old Norse strykva "to stroke," Old
    hit
    late Old English hyttan, hittan "come upon, meet with, fall in with, 'hit' upon," from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse hitta "to light upon, meet with," also "to hit, strike;" Swedish hitta "to find," Danish and Norwegian hitte "to hit, find," from Proto-Germanic *hitjan,
    make
    Old English macian "to give being to, give form or character to, bring into existence; construct, do, be the author of, produce; prepare, arrange, cause; behave, fare, transform," from West Germanic *makōjanan "to fashion, fit" (source also of Old Saxon makon, Old Frisian makia "

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