chop-chop
adverb
with haste; quickly.
chop-chop
American
[chop-chop]
/ ˈtʃɒpˈtʃɒp /
adverb
chop chop
British
adverb
Etymology
Origin of chop-chop
1825–35; repetitive compound based on Chinese Pidgin English chop quick, of uncertain origin
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He does screenplays at the same chop-chop pace.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 5, 2018
In four or five chop-chop years, the mill town became “The Shingle Capital of the World,” and more often than not, it smelled like cedar.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 8, 2017
From the urgent chop-chop of a loudspeaker in a nearby village, Adams could tell that his landing had been spotted and that a search party was being organized.
From Time Magazine Archive
Finally, the moment nears "to do chop-chop," as M'sieur Pierre puts it childishly; and childishly, too, the prisoner seeks to save his last shred of self-respect as he mutters: "By myself, by myself."
From Time Magazine Archive
"You best hurry chop-chop," he called after Charlie; "we go home pretty soon!"
From Moran of the Lady Letty by Norris, Frank
“It was just chop, chop, chop,” Canady said.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 5, 2020
So you haven't anymore got that chop chop chop of the keys – you've got an almost silent process so you can hear the rhythm in your head better.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 26, 2011
She weeded the fields carefully with her hoe—chop, chop, chop.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
“Go long chop chop, soon lilly pijjin come down topside.”
From Afloat at Last A Sailor Boy's Log of his Life at Sea by Overend, William Heysham
This new style of water cure did wonders; in a short time not an oath was heard: it was just chop, chop, chop, and the madder the men got, the more the chips would fly.
From The Beginner's American History by Montgomery, D. H. (David Henry)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
