chip off

1. To break off of something in small pieces. Ugh, I painted my nails yesterday, and the polish is already starting to chip off. The paint is so old that it has completely chipped off from this side of the house Bad news—the rock salt froze and clumped together, so good luck chipping off chunks of it to use.

2. To break a piece of something off. In this usage, a noun or pronoun can be used between "chip" and "off." We need to chip off all this old paint before we can do anything with these walls. Can you help me chip the ice off the steps? A: "Whoops, I chipped off a piece of the candy cane." B: "All right, you can eat just that one piece then."

chip off

1. To break away from a surface in small, flat pieces: The cold weather has caused the paint on the bench to chip off.

2. To break off a small, flat piece of something from some whole: She chipped off a small piece of ice from the block. He chipped the hard coating off the pipe with a screwdriver.