Nick vs Chop - What's the difference?

In transitive terms the difference between nick and chop

is that nick is to mar; to deface; to make ragged, as by cutting nicks or notches in while chop is to sever with an axe or similar implement.

In obsolete terms the difference between nick and chop

is that nick is to nickname; to style while chop is to exchange, to barter; to swap.

As a proper noun Nick

is a diminutive of the male given name Nicholas.

nick

English

(wikipedia nick)

Noun

(en noun)

A small cut in a surface.

# A particular point or place considered as marked by a nick; the exact point or critical moment.

in the nick of time

#*, II.20:

Truely he flies when he is even upon the nicke , and naturally hasteneth to escape it, as from a step whereon he cannot stay or containe himselfe, and feareth to sinke into it.

#* Howell

to cut it off in the very nick

# (printing, dated) A notch cut crosswise in the shank of a type, to assist a compositor in placing it properly in the stick, and in distribution.

Meanings connoting something small.

# (cricket) A small deflection of the ball off the edge of the bat, often going to the wicket-keeper for a catch.

# (real tennis) The point where the wall of the court meets the floor.

# (genetics) One of the single-stranded DNA segments produced during nick translation.

(archaic) A nixie, or water-sprite.

* 1879 , Viktor Rydberg, The Magic of the Middle Ages (p.201)

*:imps, giants, trolls, forest-spirits, elves and hobgoblins in and on the earth; nicks , river-sprites in the water, fiends in the air, and salamanders in the fire.

a user's reserved nick on an IRC network

(UK, slang) In the expressions in bad nick'' and ''in good nick : condition.

The car I bought was cheap and in good nick .

* '>citation

(British, slang) A police station or prison.

He was arrested and taken down to Sun Hill nick [police station] to be charged.

He's just been released from Shadwell nick [prison] after doing ten years for attempted murder.

Derived terms

* in the nick of time

Verb

(en verb)

To make a nick or notch in; to cut or scratch in a minor way.

I nicked myself while I was shaving.

# To make a cross cut or cuts on the underside of (the tail of a horse, in order to make the animal carry it higher).

# To mar; to deface; to make ragged, as by cutting nicks or notches in.

#* Prior

And thence proceed to nicking sashes.

#* Shakespeare

The itch of his affection should not then / Have nicked his captainship.

To suit or fit into, as by a correspondence of nicks; to tally with.

* Camden

Words nicking and resembling one another are applicable to different significations.

# To hit at, or in, the nick; to touch rightly; to strike at the precise point or time.

#* L'Estrange

The just season of doing things must be nicked , and all accidents improved.

# To throw or turn up (a number when playing dice); to hit upon.

#* {{quote-book, year=1773

, author=Oliver Goldsmith , title=She Stoops to Conquer , text=My old luck: I never nicked seven that I did not throw ames ace three times following.}}

# (cricket) to hit the ball with the edge of the bat and produce a fine deflection

(obsolete) To nickname; to style.

* Ford

For Warbeck, as you nick him, came to me.

(slang) To steal.

Someone's nicked my bike!

(transitive, British, slang) To arrest.

The police nicked him climbing over the fence of the house he'd broken into.

chop

English

Etymology 1

(etyl) choppen, variant of (only attested in compounds). More at (l).

Noun

(en noun)

A cut of meat, often containing a section of a rib.

*1957 , :

*:I was standing at the meat counter, waiting for some rib lamb chops to be cut.

A blow with an axe, cleaver, or similar utensil.

(martial arts) A blow delivered with the hand rigid and outstretched.

Ocean waves, generally caused by wind, distinguished from swell by being smaller and not lasting as long.

(poker) A hand where two or more players have an equal-valued hand, resulting in the chips being shared equally between them.

Termination, especially from employment.

(dated) A crack or cleft; a chap.

Quotations

* (English Citations of "chop")

Synonyms

* axe, pink slip, sack

Verb

To cut into pieces with short, vigorous cutting motions.

chop wood

chop an onion

To sever with an axe or similar implement.

Chop off his head.

(baseball) To hit the ball downward so that it takes a high bounce.

(poker) To divide the pot (or tournament prize) between two or more players.

To do something suddenly with an unexpected motion; to catch or attempt to seize.

* L'Estrange

Out of greediness to get both, he chops at the shadow, and loses the substance.

To interrupt; with in'' or ''out .

* Latimer

This fellow interrupted the sermon, even suddenly chopping in.

Derived terms

* chop chop * chopper * chopping board * chop logic * chops * chopstick * choppy * karate chop * try out one's own chops

Etymology 2

Of uncertain origin, perhaps a variant of (chap).

Verb

(obsolete) To exchange, to barter; to swap.

* 1644 , (John Milton), Aeropagitica :

this is not to put down Prelaty, this is but to chop an Episcopacy; this is but to translate the Palace Metropolitan'' from one kind of dominion into another, this is but an old canonicall sleight of ''commuting our penance.

* L'Estrange

We go on chopping and changing our friends.

To chap or crack.

(nautical) To vary or shift suddenly.

The wind chops about.

To wrangle; to altercate; to bandy words.

* Francis Bacon

Let not the counsel at the bar chop with the judge.

Noun

(en noun)

(mostly, in the plural) A jaw of an animal.

A movable jaw or cheek, as of a vice.

The land at each side of the mouth of a river, harbour, or channel.

East Chop'''; West '''Chop

A change; a vicissitude.

(Marryat)

Etymology 3

(etyl)

Noun

(en noun)

An official stamp or seal.

Mark indicating nature, quality, or brand.

silk of the first chop

Derived terms

* chop dollar * chop of tea * grand chop

Etymology 4

Shortening.

Noun

(en noun)

(internet) An IRC channel operator.

* 1996 , Peter Ludlow, High Noon on the Electronic Frontier (page 404)

IRC supports mechanisms for the enforcement of acceptable behaviour on IRC. Channel operators — "chanops" or "chops " — have access to the /kick command, which throws a specified user out of the given channel.

Synonyms

* chanop * op ----