chopper

[chop-er] /ˈtʃɒp ər/
noun
1.
a person or thing that chops.
2.
a short ax with a large blade, used for cutting up meat, fish, etc.; butcher's cleaver.
3.
a prehistoric implement made by striking flakes off one or both sides of a stone, considered the oldest known worked stone tool.
4.
choppers, Slang. the teeth.
5.
Informal. a helicopter.
6.
Slang. a motorcycle.
7.
a device for interrupting an electric current or a beam of light at regular intervals.
verb (used without object)
8.
Informal.
  1. to travel by helicopter:
    We choppered into midtown from the airport.
  2. to travel by motorcycle.
Origin
1545-55; 1950-55 for def 5; chop1 + -er1
Examples from the web for chopper
  • But the transition from tree-chopper to tree-hugger is not happening fast enough.
  • The blast broke his bedroom window and strewed blackened bits of the chopper over a nearby wheat field.
  • Then, one stormy winter evening, a chopper nearly missed the top of the building because of the wind gusts.
  • Doing their own stunt work, the two actors could have lost their lives when the chopper snagged one of its skids in the bridge.
  • He owns an interest in the chopper and gets reimbursed when he uses it for business.
  • Depending on their status, vacation club members get airport transfers via chopper, stretch limo or a dedicated shuttle.
  • Fire away to hitch a ride, then hijack the chopper in mid-air.
  • The chopper has double blades, a gyroscope and a rechargeable battery.
  • Also, if the chopper or plan is moving at a high rate of speed the shots could be blurry.
British Dictionary definitions for chopper

chopper

/ˈtʃɒpə/
noun
1.
(mainly Brit) a small hand axe
2.
a butcher's cleaver
3.
a person or thing that cuts or chops
4.
an informal name for a helicopter
5.
(mainly Brit) a slang name for penis
6.
a device for periodically interrupting an electric current or beam of radiation to produce a pulsed current or beam See also vibrator (sense 2)
7.
a type of bicycle or motorcycle with very high handlebars and an elongated saddle
8.
(NZ) a child's bicycle
9.
(obsolete, slang, mainly US) a sub-machine-gun
Word Origin and History for chopper
n.

1550s, "one who chops," agent noun from chop (v.1). Meaning "meat cleaver" is by 1818. Meaning "helicopter" is from 1951, Korean War military slang (cf. egg-beater); as a type of stripped-down motorcycle (originally prefered by Hell's Angels) from 1965.

chopper in Science
chopper
  (chŏp'ər)   
A crudely flaked, unifacial core tool, especially one associated with the Oldowan stone culture of the early Paleolithic Period.
Slang definitions & phrases for chopper

chopper

noun
  1. A submachine gun, esp a Thompson; tommy gun (1920s+)
  2. gangster who uses a submachine gun: Johnny Head had met the ''chopper'' (1920s+)
  3. A helicopter: the traffic reporter from the chopper (1950s+)
  4. A chopped car or motorcycle (1950s+ Hot rodders & motorcyclists)
Related Terms

pork-chopper


Encyclopedia Article for chopper

thyristor

any of several types of transistors having four semiconducting layers and therefore three p-n junctions; the thyristor is a solid-state analogue of the thyratron vacuum tube, and its name derives from the combination of the two words thyratron and transistor. A common form of thyristor is the silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR), used to convert alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC) and widely used as a component of devices that control motor speeds, liquid levels, temperatures, and pressures.

Learn more about thyristor with a free trial on Britannica.com