- chop (1)
- "to cut," mid-14c., perhaps from O.Fr. (Picard) choper, from O.Fr. coper "to cut off," from V.L. *cuppare "to decapitate," infl. by couper "to strike." Meaning "slice of meat" is c.1640; hence, chop-house (1680s).
- chop (2)
- "shift," O.E. ceapian "to bargain" (see cheap), here with a sense of "changing back and forth."