lick one's chops

noun

1. Usually chops. the jaw.
2. chops,
   1. the oral cavity; mouth.
   2. Slang.the embouchure or technique necessary to play a wind instrument.
   3. Slang.musical ability on any instrument, especially in playing jazz or rock; technical virtuosity.
   4. Slang.the music or musical part played by an instrumentalist, especially a solo passage.
3. an entranceway, as into a body of water.
4. Horology. either of two pieces clasping the end of the suspension spring of a pendulum.

Idioms

5. bust one’s chops, Slang. to exert oneself.
6. bust someone’s chops, Slang. to annoy with nagging or criticism: Stop busting my chops—I’ll get the job done.
7. lick one’s chops, to await with pleasure; anticipate; relish: He was already licking his chops over the expected inheritance.

verb chops, chopping or chopped

1. (often foll by down or off) to cut (something) with a blow from an axe or other sharp tool
2. (tr) to produce or make in this mannerto chop firewood
3. (tr often foll by up) to cut into pieces
4. (tr) British informal to dispense with or reduce
5. (intr) to move quickly or violently
6. sport to hit (a ball) sharply downwards
7. boxing martial arts to punch or strike (an opponent) with a short sharp blow
8. Western African an informal word for eat

noun

9. a cutting blow
10. the act or an instance of chopping
11. a piece chopped off
12. a slice of mutton, lamb, or pork, generally including a rib
13. Australian and NZ slang a share (esp in the phrase get or hop in for one’s chop)
14. Western African an informal word for food
15. Australian and NZ a competition of skill and speed in chopping logs
16. sport a sharp downward blow or stroke
17. not much chop Australian and NZ informal not much good; poor
18. the chop slang dismissal from employment

verb chops, chopping or chopped

1. (intr) to change direction suddenly; vacillate (esp in the phrase chop and change)
2. obsolete to barter
3. chop logic to use excessively subtle or involved logic or argument

noun

1. a design stamped on goods as a trademark, esp in the Far East

v.1“to cut with a quick blow,” mid-14c., of uncertain origin, perhaps from Old North French choper (Old French coper “to cut, cut off,” 12c., Modern French couper), from Vulgar Latin *cuppare “to behead,” from a root meaning “head,” but influenced in Old French by couper “to strike.” Related: Chopped; chopping. v.2“shift quickly,” 1530s, earlier “to bargain” (early 15c.), ultimately from Old English ceapian “to bargain” (see cheap); here with a sense of “changing back and forth,” probably from common expressions such as to chop and change “barter.” To chop logic is recorded from 1570s. Related: Chopped; chopping. n.“act of chopping,” mid-14c., from chop (v.1). Meaning “piece cut off” is mid-15c.; specifically “slice of meat” from mid-17c. Sense of “a blow, strike” is from 1550s. Also, lick one’s lips. Anticipate with great pleasure. For example, The kids were licking their chops as Mother described the family vacation plans, or I couldn’t help but lick my lips when she talked about the menu. Both expressions allude to anticipating a tasty morsel of food. The second is the older, dating from about 1500 and used interchangeably with lick one’s fingers, now seldom heard. The first also served as 1930s jazz slang for warming up, chops meaning “the jaw or mouth” (a usage dating from the 1300s).