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Webster 1913 Edition


Chap

Chap

(chăp or chŏp)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Chapped
(chăpt or chŏpt)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Chapping
.]
[See
Chop
to cut.]
1.
To cause to open in slits or chinks; to split; to cause the skin of to crack or become rough.
Then would unbalanced heat licentious reign,
Crack the dry hill, and
chap
the russet plain.
Blackmore.
Nor winter’s blast
chap
her fair face.
Lyly.
2.
To strike; to beat.
[Scot.]

Chap

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To crack or open in slits;
as, the earth
chaps
; the hands
chap
.
2.
To strike; to knock; to rap.
[Scot.]

Chap

,
Noun.
[From
Chap
,
v. t. & i.
]
1.
A cleft, crack, or chink, as in the surface of the earth, or in the skin.
2.
A division; a breach, as in a party.
[Obs.]
Many clefts and
chaps
in our council board.
T. Fuller.
3.
A blow; a rap.
[Scot.]

Chap

(chŏp)
,
Noun.
[OE.
chaft
; of Scand. origin; cf. Icel
kjaptr
jaw, Sw.
Käft
, D.
kiæft
; akin to G.
kiefer
, and E.
jowl
. Cf.
Chops
.]
1.
One of the jaws or the fleshy covering of a jaw; – commonly in the plural, and used of animals, and colloquially of human beings.
His
chaps
were all besmeared with crimson blood.
Cowley.
He unseamed him [Macdonald] from the nave to the
chaps
.
Shakespeare
2.
One of the jaws or cheeks of a vise, etc.

Chap

(chăp)
,
Noun.
[Perh. abbreviated fr.
chapman
, but used in a more general sense; or cf. Dan.
kiæft
jaw, person, E.
chap
jaw.]
1.
A buyer; a chapman.
[Obs.]
If you want to sell, here is your
chap
.
Steele.
2.
A man or boy; a youth; a fellow.
[Colloq.]

Chap

,
Verb.
I.
[See
Cheapen
.]
To bargain; to buy.
[Obs.]

Webster 1828 Edition


Chap

CHAP

,
Verb.
T.
To cleave, split, crack, or open longitudinally, as the surface of the earth, or the skin and flesh of the hand. Dry weather chaps the earth; cold dry winds chap the hands.

CHAP

,
Verb.
I.
To crack; to open in long slits; as, the earth chaps; the hands chap.

CHAP

,
Noun.
A longitudinal cleft, gap or chink, as in the surface of the earth, or in the hands or feet.

CHAP

,
Noun.
The upper and lower part of the mouth; the jaw. It is applied to beasts, and vulgarly to men; generally in the plural, the chaps or mouth.

CHAP

,
Verb.
I.
To cheapen.

Definition 2024


chap

chap

See also: CHAP

English

Noun

chap (plural chaps)

  1. (dated outside Britain and Australia) A man, a fellow.
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      A chap named Eleazir Kendrick and I had chummed in together the summer afore and built a fish-weir and shanty at Setuckit Point, down Orham way. For a spell we done pretty well.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 20, in The China Governess:
      No. I only opened the door a foot and put my head in. The street lamps shine into that room. I could see him. He was all right. Sleeping like a great grampus. Poor, poor chap.’
    Who’s that chap over there?
  2. (Britain, dialectal) A customer, a buyer.
    • Steele
      If you want to sell, here is your chap.
  3. (Southern US) A child.
Synonyms
  • See also Wikisaurus:man
Derived terms
Descendants
  • Pennsylvania German: Tschaepp (guy)
Translations

Etymology 2

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.
    • Blackmore
      Then would unbalanced heat licentious reign, / Crack the dry hill, and chap the russet plain.
    • Lyly
      Nor winter's blast chap her fair face.
  3. (Scotland, Northern England) To strike, knock.
    • 2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin 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.
    • T. Fuller
      Many clefts and chaps in our council board.
  3. (Scotland) A blow; a rap.
Derived terms

Etymology 3

From Northern English chafts (jaws).

Noun

chap (plural chaps)

  1. (archaic) The jaw (often in plural).
    • 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare
      This wide-chapp'd rascal—would thou might'st lie drowning / The washing of ten tides!
    • Cowley
      His chaps were all besmeared with crimson blood.
    • Shakespeare
      He unseamed him from the nave to the chaps.
  2. One of the jaws or cheeks of a vice, etc.
Translations

See also

Anagrams