chopper

American  

[chop-er] / ˈtʃɒp ər /

noun

choppers plural

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.

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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

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chopper Scientific  

/ chŏp′ər /

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

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• choppers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of chopper

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

chopper choppers

"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

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

"Five more minutes, and I would have left you," the pilot tells the reporters as they clamber back in, the chopper stuttering up and banking over the town's remains.

From Barron's ● Nov. 18, 2025

The chopper was a large blunt thing far too heavy for a small boy to use.

From "James and the Giant Peach" by Roald Dahl

Her mother-in-law once offered to spend $50,000 on her teeth but, like Queen Elizabeth II, she stuck with her OG choppers.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 17, 2026

"Preparation to supply more food and non-food relief items to the victims is underway," said Murkomen, adding: "Military and police choppers are on standby to transport the items."

From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2025

Her official Mikie Sherrill for New Jersey page even has the silhouette of a helicopter in the logo, while the choppers and the congresswoman in flight jacket feature prominently in the background of her sites.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2025

Once the pages are printed, they are trucked to a nearby bindery and fed into a whirring machine of conveyors, choppers and hot glue.

From New York Times ● Jun. 16, 2024

I was there at the helipad to meet the choppers.

From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien