chap
/t͡ʃæp/
chap noun: a man, a fellow. Also the obsolete form of chop.
Noun (1)
chap (plural chaps)
- A man, a fellow.
- Who’s that chap over there?
- “Now when I was a little chap I had a passion for maps.”1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 194
- A customer, a buyer.
- 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.1728, John Gay, The Beggar's Opera, Act 3
- A child.
Verb
chap (third-person singular simple present chaps, present participle chapping, simple past and past participle chapped)
- Of the skin, to split or flake due to cold weather or dryness.
- 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.1712, Richard Blackmore, Creation: A Philosophical Poem
- whose fair face neither the summer's blaze can scorch nor winter's blast chap.1591, John Lyly, Endymion
- To strike, knock.
- And then it seems that through the open door there came the chapping of a clock.1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide
- 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 […]2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published 2009, page 35
Noun (2)
chap (plural chaps)
Noun (3)
chap (plural chaps)
- The jaw.
- This wide-chapp'd rascal—would thou might'st lie drowning / The washing of ten tides!1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
- His chaps were all besmear'd with crimson blood.a. 1667, Abraham Cowley, The Song
- One of the jaws or cheeks of a vice, etc.
Proper noun (1) capitalized: CHAP
CHAP
- Initialism of Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol.
Proper noun (2) capitalized: Chap
Chap (plural Chaps)
- A surname from Khmer.
Also used as
chap is also the obsolete form of chop.
chap is also the clipping of chapter.
chap meaning in Tamil, Marathi, Bengali and Malayalam
chap in Tamil
- man or fellow
- ஆள் āḷ
- of skin: to split or flake
- வெடி veṭi
- the jaw
- தாடை tāṭai
chap in Marathi
- चॅप
chap in Bengali
- চ্যাপ
chap in Malayalam
- ചാപ്, ചാപ്പ്
More languagesFewer languages
- chap in Punjabi
- ਚੈਪ
- chap in Nepali
- चैप
- chap in Arabic
- شَاب šāb, رَجُل rajul
Examples of chap in a sentence
- 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.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
- He unseamed him from the nave to the chaps.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […]...
Synonyms of chap
29 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of chap
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | chaps |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | chaps |
| present participle | chapping |
| past participle | chapped |
| past | chapped |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Chaps |
Origin of chap
Clipping of chapman (“dealer, customer”) in 16th-century English.
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.
From Northern English chafts (“jaws”). Compare also Middle English cheppe (“one side of the jaw, chap”).
Words formed from chap
Phrases with chap
Words that rhyme with chap
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- scrap
- map
- rap
- slap
- overlap
- pap
- crap
- sap
- yap
- bap
- unwrap
- app
- dap
- frappe
- nap
- uncap
- wap
- entrap
- enwrap
- fap
- frap
- hap
- jap
- minimap
- Phrygian cap
- plap
- recap
- whap
- anion gap
- asap
- bad rap
- belap
- betrap
- cloth cap
- Fanny Murray cap
- FAPP
- GAAP
- ion trap
- katsap
- lagniappe
- mishap
- Noddy cap
- scap
- shrap
- stap
- umbelap
- unstrap
- voting cap
Questions about chap
- What does chap mean?
- Chap means a man, a fellow.
- What is chap in Tamil?
- Chap in Tamil is ஆள் (āḷ), வெடி (veṭi), தாடை (tāṭai). See Chap meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use chap in a sentence?
- 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.
- What part of speech is chap?
- Chap can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce chap?
- Chap is pronounced /t͡ʃæp/.
- What is the plural of chap?
- The plural of chap is chaps.
Words near chap in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: chap (page history and authors); CHAP (page history and authors); Chap (page history and authors); chap (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); chap (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); chap (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); chap (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); chap (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-chap.ogg, EN-AU ck1 chap.ogg.
Cite this entry: “chap.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/chap. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.