chap
English edit
Pronunciation edit
Etymology 1 edit
Clipping of chapman (“dealer, customer”) in 16th-century English.
Noun edit
chap (plural chaps)
- (dated outside UK and Australia) A man, a fellow.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:man
- Who’s that chap over there?
- 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 194:
- “Now when I was a little chap I had a passion for maps.”
- 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
- A chap named Eleazir Kendrick and I had chummed in together the summer afore and built a fish-weir and shanty at Setuckit Point, down Orham way. For a spell we done pretty well.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 20, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
- ‘No. I only opened the door a foot and put my head in. The street lamps shine into that room. I could see him. He was all right. Sleeping like a great grampus. Poor, poor chap.’
- (UK, dialectal) A customer, a buyer.
- 1728, John Gay, The Beggar's Opera, Act 3:
- If you have Blacks of any kind, brought in of late; Mantoes--Velvet Scarfs--Petticoats--Let it be what it will--I am your Chap--for all my Ladies are very fond of Mourning.
- (Southern US) A child.
Derived terms edit
Descendants edit
- Pennsylvania German: Tschaepp (“guy”)
Translations edit
|
Etymology 2 edit
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.
Verb edit
chap (third-person singular simple present chaps, present participle chapping, simple past and past participle chapped)
- (intransitive) Of the skin, to split or flake due to cold weather or dryness.
- (transitive) To cause to open in slits or chinks; to split; to cause the skin of to crack or become rough.
- 1712, Richard Blackmore, Creation: A Philosophical Poem:
- Then would unbalanced heat licentious reign, / Crack the dry hill, and chap the russet plain.
- (Scotland, Northern England) To strike, knock.
- 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:
- And then it seems that through the open door there came the chapping of a clock.
- 2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published 2009, page 35:
- The door was shut into my class. I had to chap it and then Miss Rankine came and opened it and gived me an angry look […]
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
|
Noun edit
chap (plural chaps)
- A cleft, crack, or chink, as in the surface of the earth, or in the skin.
- (obsolete) A division; a breach, as in a party.
- 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC:
- Many clefts and chaps in our council board.
- (Scotland) A blow; a rap.
Derived terms edit
Etymology 3 edit
From Northern English chafts (“jaws”). Compare also Middle English cheppe (“one side of the jaw, chap”).
Noun edit
chap (plural chaps)
- (archaic, often in the plural) The jaw.
- 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
- This wide-chapp'd rascal—would thou might'st lie drowning / The washing of ten tides!
- a. 1667, Abraham Cowley, The Song:
- His chaps were all besmear'd with crimson blood.
- c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
- He unseamed him from the nave to the chaps.
- One of the jaws or cheeks of a vice, etc.
Related terms edit
Translations edit
Etymology 4 edit
Shortening
Noun edit
chap (plural chaps)
See also edit
Anagrams edit
Dutch edit
Pronunciation edit
Audio (file)
Noun edit
chap m (plural chappen, diminutive chappie n)
- Alternative spelling of sjap.
Hokkien edit
Etymology 1 edit
| For pronunciation and definitions of chap – see 汁 (“juice; gravy; sauce; etc.”). (This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 汁). |
Etymology 2 edit
| For pronunciation and definitions of chap – see 紮 (“to tie; to bind; bundle; etc.”). (This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 紮). |
Polish edit
Pronunciation edit
Etymology 1 edit
Alternative forms edit
Interjection edit
chap
- used to express an unexpected movement involving a sudden grasping of something
Related terms edit
- chapać impf
- chapać dzidę impf
- chapnąć pf
- chapsnąć pf
Etymology 2 edit
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Verb edit
chap
Further reading edit
Scots edit
Etymology edit
Late Middle English, from Old English *ċeappian, *ċieppan, from Proto-Germanic *kapp-, *kap- (“to chop; cut; split”), like also English chop. The ultimate origin is uncertain; possibly from Vulgar Latin *cuppare (“to behead”), from Latin caput (“head”) and influenced by Old French couper (“to strike”).[1]
Akin to Saterland Frisian kappe, kapje (“to hack; chop; lop off”), Dutch kappen (“to chop, cut, hew”), Middle Low German koppen (“to cut off, lop, poll”), German Low German kappen (“to cut off; clip”), German kappen (“to cut; clip”), German dialectal chapfen (“to chop into small pieces”), Danish kappe (“to cut, lop off, poll”), Swedish kapa (“to cut”), Albanian copë (“piece, chunk”), Old English *ċippian (attested in forċippian (“to cut off”)).
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
chap
- (transitive, intransitive) To knock (on) or strike.
References edit
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “chop”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Semai edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Proto-Mon-Khmer *cap ~ *caap (“to seize”). Cognate with Old Khmer cap (“to seize, catch”), Kuy caːp (“to catch, hold”).
Verb edit
chap[1]
Synonyms edit
Derived terms edit
References edit
- ^ Basrim bin Ngah Aching (2008) Kamus Engròq Semay – Engròq Malaysia, Kamus Bahasa Semai – Bahasa Malaysia, Bangi: Institut Alam dan Tamadun Melayu, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia