chop-chop
Americanadverb
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
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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
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Chicken chop-chop, palm-oil, peppers, hother t'ings halso, sar.
From The Blind Lion of the Congo by Elliott Whitney
“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
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If you order a fire you say something like this: "Fire makee, chop, chop, here, makee fire number one," chop being quick, and number one good, or "first-class."
From The Golden Chersonese and the Way Thither by Isabella L. (Isabella Lucy) Bird
Standing it up, with the handle leaning against the enchanted tree, he stepped back a few feet and shouted: "Chop, chop, chop!"
From The Magic Soap Bubble by E. I. Jones
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.