[ME. chapp-en (14th c.) answers in sense to later MDu. cappen (Du. kappen, also LG., and thence in mod.Ger.), MSw. kappa, MDa. kappe. But the relation of these to the ME. form is uncertain, and no trace of the word is found in the earlier stage of any of the langs.; cf. CHIP. The sense-development is not clear.]
I. † 1. trans. (with off). To chop off. Obs. or dial.
c. 1325. Coer de L., 4550. Anon her hedes wer off chappyd.
[Jamieson mentions chap aff to strike off, and gives chap in some parts of Scotl. = chop, cut into small pieces. Cf. also sense 7, and CHAPPED ppl. a.1]
II. To crack, cause to crack in fissures. (To connect this with the prec., the trans. sense 3, as if ‘to chop or cut the surface,’ ought to be the earlier.)
2. intr. To become fissured, burst into cracks or clefts, as if the surface or skin were chopped by cutting blows.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., IV. 339. And yf thai chappe [Lat. crepent], a stoone under the heed Roote is to doo.
1561. T. Hoby, trans. Castiglione’s Courtyer, I. H i. So bedawbed, that … she had a viser on her face and dareth not laugh for making it chappe.
1580. Baret, Alv., C 333. The earth chappeth or goeth a sunder for drougth.
1677. W. Harris, trans. Lemery’s Course Chym. (1686), 401. It [Nutmeg] is clothed with two Barks, but when it comes to maturity, the uppermost chaps, and lets the second appear, which is tender, and very fragrant.
1727. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Earth, Claiey or stiff earth … subject to chap during the heat of summer.
1875. H. C. Wood, Therap. (1879), 582. Useful when the skin has a tendency to crack or to chap.
fig. 1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., III. viii. 170. Heat of passion makes our souls to chappe, and the deuil creeps in at the cranies.
3. trans. To fissure, cause to crack or open in chaps.
1460, 1549, etc. [see CHAPPED ppl. a.1 1.]
1597. Lyly, Euphues, D ij b. Parched with the Sunnes blaze, and chapped [1580 chipped] with the Winters blast.
1725. J. Reynolds, View of Death (1735), 30, note. The extremely cold winds … chap the timber, and kill the cattle, that are unhoused.
1845. Peter Parley’s Annual, VI. 196. The earth is chapped with parching.
Mod. The girl’s fingers had been chapped by working in water during the frost.
III. To strike sharply (sometimes with reference to the sound made). north dial. and Sc.
4. trans. To strike. To chap hands: to strike each other’s hand in concluding a bargain.
1565. Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (1728), 130. And so chapped him by the host a little, and at an outside watched him.
1768. Ross, Helenore, 120 (Jam.). Syn Lindy has wi Bydby chapped hands They’s hae their gear again.
5. trans. and intr. To strike, as a clock.
1652. in Z. Boyd, Zion’s Flowers (1855), App. 42/1. Till the hour chap.
1814. J. Boswell, Justic. Opera, in Chambers, Pop. Hum. Sc. Poems (1862), 64. The clock’s chappit ten.
1822. E. Irving, Lett., 5 Nov., in Mrs. Oliphant, Life, I. 157. Till four chaps from the Ram’s Hom Kirk.
6. intr. To knock, rap, at a door.
1774. C. Keith, Farmer’s Ha, in Chambers, Pop. Hum. Sc. Poems (1862), 38. But Morpheus begins to chap, And bids them a’ gae tak a nap.
a. 1803. Erlington, iii. in Scott, Minstr. Bord. O whae is this at my bower door That chaps sae late?
1863. Atkinson, Danby Provinc., Chap, to knock, rap; at a door.
1868. G. Macdonald, R. Falconer, I. 38. ‘Wha’s there?… that neither chaps nor ca’s?’
b. trans. To chap out: to call one out by rapping or tapping. (Cf. knock up.)
1818. Blackw. Mag., III. 531, note. Chappin out, is the phrase used in many parts of Scotland to denote the slight tirl on the lozen, or tap at the window given by the nocturnal wooer to his mistress. Ibid., 532. To chap-out some of them is not worth while.
7. To chop or beat small.
a. 1776. in Herd, Coll. Sc. Poems, II. 79 (Jam.). With chapped kail.
IV. Sc. [perh. not the same word.]
8. To choose, select, bespeak; to fix upon as one’s choice. Chaps me that! the call of children in laying claim to anything, equivalent to the Lancashire barley (or balla) me! and English schoolboy’s bags I. (Hence Gall’s incorrect ’I’ll chapse.’)
1720. Ramsay, Edinb. Salut. Mrq. Carnarvon, iv. You’s hae at will to chap and chuse, For few things am I scant in.
a. 1806. in R. Jamieson, Pop. Ballads, I. 299 (Jam.). ‘Hech, husto!’ quo’ Habbie, ‘I chaps ye.’
1823. Galt, Entail, I. xix. 162. ‘I’ll chapse that place,’ said Walter.
