chap
/t͡ʃæp/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms chaps chapping chapped
- noun (dated outside UK and Australia) A man, a fellow. “Who’s that chap over there?”
- noun (UK, dialectal) A customer, a buyer.
- noun (Southern US) A child.
- verb (intransitive) Of the skin, to split or flake due to cold weather or dryness.
- verb (transitive) To cause to open in slits or chinks; to split; to cause the skin of to crack or become rough.
- verb (Scotland, Northern England) To strike, knock.
- noun A cleft, crack, or chink, as in the surface of the earth, or in the skin.
- noun (obsolete) A division; a breach, as in a party.
- noun (Scotland) A blow; a rap.
- noun (archaic, often in the plural) The jaw.
- noun One of the jaws or cheeks of a vice, etc.
- proper noun A surname from Khmer.
Synonyms
bloke boy bro broski bruh cat chappy chield cove covey dog [⇒ thesaurus] (slang) dawg dude fella fellow gadgie gate geezer gink gloak feller lad gent blighter cuss crevice cranny crack fissure
Etymology
Clipping of chapman (“dealer, customer”) in 16th-century English.
From Middle English chappen (“to split open, burst, chap”), of uncertain origin. Compare Middle English choppen (“to chop”), Dutch kappen (“to cut, chop, hack”). Perhaps related to chip.
From Northern English chafts (“jaws”). Compare also Middle English cheppe (“one side of the jaw, chap”).
Shortening.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To cause to open in slits or chinks; to split; to cause the skin of to crack or become rough.
- verb To strike; to beat. [Scot.]
- verb To crack or open in slits; as, the earth chaps; the hands chap.
- verb To strike; to knock; to rap. [Scot.]
Etymology [See Chop to cut.]
Etymology [From Chap, v. t. & i.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “chap”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details