chopper

American  

[chop-er] / ˈtʃɒp ər /

noun

1. a person or thing that chops.

2. a short ax with a large blade, used for cutting up meat, fish, etc.; butcher's cleaver.

3. a prehistoric implement made by striking flakes off one or both sides of a stone, considered the oldest known worked stone tool.

4. Slang. choppers, the teeth.

5. Informal. a helicopter.

6. Slang. a motorcycle.

7. a device for interrupting an electric current or a beam of light at regular intervals.

---

verb (used without object)

1. Informal.

   1. to travel by helicopter.

      We choppered into midtown from the airport.

   2. to travel by motorcycle.

chopper British  

/ ˈtʃɒpə /

noun

1. a small hand axe

2. a butcher's cleaver

3. a person or thing that cuts or chops

4. an informal name for a helicopter

5. a slang name for penis

6. a device for periodically interrupting an electric current or beam of radiation to produce a pulsed current or beam See also vibrator

7. a type of bicycle or motorcycle with very high handlebars and an elongated saddle

8. a child's bicycle

9. obsolete a sub-machine-gun

---

chopper Scientific  

/ chŏp′ər /

1. A crudely flaked, unifacial core tool, especially one associated with the Oldowan stone culture of the early Paleolithic Period.

---

Etymology

Origin of chopper

1545–55; 1950–55 chopper for def. 5; chop ¹ + -er ¹

Example Sentences

"Besides having a massively full tummy, he didn't move around or try to slip into the river despite the noise of the drones and the chopper," he told News24.

From BBC • May 3, 2026

Watch how this small chopper flown inside a C-130 transport plane was used to rescue the U.S. aviator trapped in Iran after his F-15 was shot down.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026

The Coast Guard swimmer who jumped time and again from a chopper into the raging waters of the July 2025 Texas flood, saving 165 lives, was also honored.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 25, 2026

The process is called long-lining, and the skier is typically bundled in a basket that’s lifted by a cable lowered from the chopper.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 13, 2026

“This is an unlawful assembly,” blared a voice from the chopper.

From "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro