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chop-chop

American  
[chop-chop] / ˈtʃɒpˈtʃɒp /

adverb

  1. with haste; quickly.


chop chop British  

adverb

  1. pidgin English for quickly See quickly

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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

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

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

Then she heard the chop-chop of his axe on the deck, and the fall of something into the water, and he came down laughing at the start it had given him also.

From Maid of the Mist by John Oxenham

“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

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 D. H. (David Henry) Montgomery

Chop, chop, chop, went Marty's little billhook with never more assiduity, till Mrs. Charmond spoke.

From The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy

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