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chap

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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See also: Chap, CHAP, chap., cha̍p, chạp, chập, chấp, and chắp

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Clipping of chapman (“dealer, customer”) in 16th-century English.

Noun

chap (plural chaps)

  1. (dated outside UK and Australia) A man, a fellow.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:man
    Who’s that chap over there?
  2. (UK, dialectal) A customer, a buyer.
    • 1728, John Gay, The Beggar's Opera, Act 3:
      If you have Blacks of any kind, brought in of late; Mantoes--Velvet Scarfs--Petticoats--Let it be what it will--I am your Chap--for all my Ladies are very fond of Mourning.
  3. (Southern US) A child.
Derived terms
Descendants
  • Pennsylvania German: Tschaepp (“guy”)
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English chappen (“to split open, burst, chap”), of uncertain origin. Compare Middle English choppen (“to chop”), Dutch kappen (“to cut, chop, hack”). Perhaps related to chip.

Verb

chap (third-person singular simple present chaps, present participle chapping, simple past and past participle chapped)

  1. (intransitive) Of the skin, to split or flake due to cold weather or dryness.
  2. (transitive) To cause to open in slits or chinks; to split; to cause the skin of to crack or become rough.
    • 1712, Richard Blackmore, Creation: A Philosophical Poem:
      Then would unbalanced heat licentious reign, / Crack the dry hill, and chap the russet plain.
    • 1591, John Lyly, Endymion:
      whose fair face neither the summer's blaze can scorch nor winter's blast chap.
  3. (Scotland, Northern England) To strike, knock.
    • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:
      And then it seems that through the open door there came the chapping of a clock.
    • 2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published 2009, page 35:
      The door was shut into my class. I had to chap it and then Miss Rankine came and opened it and gived me an angry look […]
Derived terms
Translations

Noun

chap (plural chaps)

  1. A cleft, crack, or chink, as in the surface of the earth, or in the skin.
  2. (obsolete) A division; a breach, as in a party.
    • 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI):
      Many clefts and chaps in our council board.
  3. (Scotland) A blow; a rap.
Derived terms

Etymology 3

From Northern English chafts (“jaws”). Compare also Middle English cheppe (“one side of the jaw, chap”).

Noun

chap (plural chaps)

  1. (archaic, often in the plural) The jaw.
  2. One of the jaws or cheeks of a vice, etc.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 4

Shortening

Noun

chap (plural chaps)

  1. (Internet slang) Clipping of chapter (“division of a text”).

See also

Anagrams

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Dutch

Pronunciation

Noun

chap m (plural chappen, diminutive chappie n)

  1. alternative spelling of sjap

Hokkien

Etymology 1

For pronunciation and definitions of chap – see 汁 (“juice; gravy; sauce; etc.”).
(This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 汁).

Etymology 2

For pronunciation and definitions of chap – see 紮 (“to tie; to bind; bundle; etc.”).
(This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 紮).

Polish

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Onomatopoeic.

Alternative forms

Interjection

chap

  1. used to express an unexpected movement involving a sudden grasping of something
verbs

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

chap

  1. second-person singular imperative of chapać

Further reading

  • chap in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • chap in Polish dictionaries at PWN
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Scots

Semai

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