break (one's) balls

rude slang "Balls" is slang for the testicles, so the phrase in each meaning is usually (but not solely) said of or by a man.

1. To exert oneself to the utmost degree; to put forth the maximum amount of effort or strain. I've been breaking my balls trying to get the new software ready by the release date. Don't break your balls getting over here, there's no rush. We broke our balls cleaning the house before Mom got here, and she still said her room was dusty!

2. To harass, harangue, or pressure one about something, especially for a lengthy period of time. The boss has been breaking our balls over the number of sales our department has made this quarter. I said I would get it done today. Quit breaking my balls! I wouldn't have to break your balls if you would just do your chores like you're supposed to!

3. To tease one; to give one a hard time. Aw, come on, dude, I was just breaking your balls. No need to get upset about it. Please, I'm used to that kind of teasing—I grew up with three older brothers who loved breaking my balls. You're a rookie, which means the veterans on the team are going to break your balls every chance they get.

break (one's) chops

To harass, nag, or upbraid one to do, accomplish, or complete something. The boss is breaking everyone's chops to get the project ready by next week. Quit breaking my chops! I'll get it done eventually! I wouldn't have to break your chops if you would just do your chores like you're supposed to!

bust (one's) balls

rude slang "Balls" is slang for the testicles, so the phrase in each meaning is usually (but not solely) said of or by a man.

1. To exert a significant amount of energy to do, accomplish, or complete something, especially with great haste. I've been busting my balls all night long to get this presentation ready for tomorrow's meeting. She's going to have to bust her balls if she wants a place on the varsity team. We busted our balls cleaning the house before Mom got here, and she still said her room was dusty!

2. To harass, nag, or upbraid one to do, accomplish, or complete something. The boss is busting everyone's balls to get the project ready by next week. Quit busting my balls! I'll get it done eventually! I wouldn't have to bust your balls if you would just do your chores like you're supposed to!

3. To tease, ridicule, or mock one, usually jocosely. Don't get so worked up, man, I'm just busting your balls. I like her family, but her uncle always busts my balls when we see him. You're a rookie, which means the veterans on the team are going to bust your balls every chance they get.

bust (one's) butt

1. To exert a significant amount of energy in some task, activity, or goal; to work very hard. I've been busting my butt all night long to get this presentation ready for tomorrow's meeting. She's going to have to bust her butt if she wants a place on the varsity team. We busted our butts cleaning the house before Mom got here, and she still said her room was dusty!

2. To harass, nag, or upbraid one to do, accomplish, or complete something. The boss is busting everyone's butt to get the project ready by next week. Quit busting my butt! I'll get it done eventually! I wouldn't have to bust your butt if you would just do your chores like you're supposed to!

3. To defeat one decisively. We weren't prepared for the game, and the other team busted our butts. I figured that candidate would win, but I didn't expect her to bust her opponent's butt like that! Yikes, what a landslide! The final score was 17–1? Wow, we really busted their butts!

4. To tease one; to give one a hard time. Aw, come on, dude, I was just busting your butt. No need to get upset about it. Please, I'm used to that kind of teasing—I grew up with three older brothers who loved busting my butt. You're a rookie, which means the veterans on the team are going to bust your butt every chance they get.

bust (one's) chops

1. To exert a significant amount of energy or work very hard to do, accomplish, or complete something. I've been busting my chops all night long to get this presentation ready for tomorrow's meeting. She's going to have to bust her chops if she wants a place on the varsity team. We busted our chops cleaning the house before Mom got here, and she still said her room was dusty!

2. To harass, nag, or upbraid one to do, accomplish, or complete something. The boss is busting everyone's chops to get the project ready by next week. Quit busting my chops! I'll get it done eventually! I wouldn't have to bust your chops if you would just do your chores like you're supposed to!

See also: bust, chops

chop and change

proverb To continually change one's course of action, to the confusion or irritation of others. Primarily heard in UK, Australia. When we chop and change this much, it frustrates our customers. We need to set a schedule and stick to it. I know he's worried about his low approval ratings, but the president still shouldn't chop and change like this to try to win people over. No wonder sales are way down—the company's tendency to chop and change has made for a chaotic year.

See also: and, change, chop

chop back

To prune something, such as trees, bushes, or plants. A noun or pronoun can be used between "chop" and "back." I need to chop back this tree because it's so overgrown that I can barely open my car door anymore. One way or another, you're gonna help me with this yardwork, so pick your poison—mowing the lawn or chopping back the hedges. The first thing the realtor will tell you to do is chop back the bush that's totally obscuring the front porch.

chop down

1. To fell; to cut down. Usually refers to cutting down a tree. A noun or pronoun can be used between "chop" and "down." We had to chop down that old tree to keep it from falling onto our house. It would be a shame to have to chop that old oak down just to make room for a parking lot. Hey, I didn't want to chop down that beautiful old oak tree! The township made me do it.

2. To destroy or reject something. A noun or pronoun can be used between "chop" and "down." Now that the CEO has chopped down our idea, we need to come up with something better. I thought I'd written a fine campaign speech, but my team completely chopped it down. The committee chopped down our plans for a new apartment block.

chop logic

To argue in a tedious or pedantic way. I can't stand the way he chops logic! You can't have a conversation without him turning it into some tiresome fight! Don't get into it with Uncle Ned about politics because he'll chop logic and pick apart every little thing you say. OK, well, be that as it may, I think my argument still stands. Quit chopping logic on me.

chop off

1. To cut something off of something else. A noun or pronoun can be used between "chop" and "off." We had to chop off that branch because it was in danger of falling on our house. I decided to chop my hair off because I needed a change in my life. Get away from that machine before you chop off a finger or something!

2. To stop someone abruptly while they are talking. A noun or pronoun can be used between "chop" and "off." I had to chop him off because his boring story was putting me to sleep. If you don't chop off Uncle Ned right from the start, he'll ramble on about nothing for hours. Would you quit chopping me off? I need to finish explaining this to you!

See also: chop, off

chop out

To remove something, as by slicing or cutting (literally or figuratively). A noun or pronoun can be used between "chop" and "out." When you edit his piece, be sure not to chop all the personality out of it. If you chop out that whole section of dialogue, how will people catch on that he's really in love with Genevieve? A: "You seriously want me to chop out these five pages?" B: "Yes, because they're a meandering detour from your paper's actual thesis."

chop up

1. Literally, to cut or slice something into smaller pieces. A noun or pronoun can be used between "chop" and "up." Can you chop the onions up for the stew? Chop up the lumber so we can use it for firewood. Yeah, the landscaper cut down those branches, but he didn't exactly chop them up into smaller pieces before he left.

2. By extension, to split something into smaller sections. A noun or pronoun can be used between "chop" and "up." This paragraph was way too long, so I chopped it up. OK, now you're totally rambling. Can I chop your speech up a bit, just to keep you on message? Chop up your massive to-do list already and delegate stuff to your employees.

chops

informal One's skill in some area. Have you ever heard her play before? She's got some serious chops on the piano. This course really helped me hone my writing chops. A major publisher is even interested in my work! Alicia doesn't have much in the way of acting chops, so I don't expect her to fare well in Hollywood.

flap (one's) chops

To chatter or blather. Quit flapping your chops—I need some quiet so I can think! Whenever Charlie starts to flap his chops, I can't get in a word! If you three have time to flap your chops around the water cooler, you have time to take on an extra project, right?

lick (one's) chops

1. To anticipate eating (something) with great eagerness or appetite. I was licking my chops when the waiter set the juicy steak down in front of me.

2. To show one's impatience or excitement to do something. You should have seen John at the car show. He was licking his chops looking at all those fancy sports cars. My detractors were practically licking their chops when they heard that my proposal had failed.

See also: chops, lick

pork chop

1. A thick cut of meat from a pig. Often used in the plural when it is prepared as a meal. Well, at least sit down and have a pork chop with us before you go out! Mom said that she's making pork chops for dinner tonight, so don't be late!

2. offensive slang A Black person who acts submissively toward white people.

prove (one's) chops

informal To demonstrate or establish that one is skilled in some area. I've heard that you're an excellent piano player. Well, here's a piano—time to prove your chops. Oh no, Tom definitely proved his chops—he stumped me with quite a few of his sports trivia questions. He knows way more than I do.

chop someone off

Fig. to stop someone in the middle of a sentence or speech. (Abruptly, as if actually chopping or cutting.) I'm not finished. Don't chop me off! The moderator chopped off the speaker.

See also: chop, off

chop something back

to prune vegetation; to reduce the size of plants by cutting. Why don't you chop those bushes back while you have the shears out? Chop back the bushes, please.

chop something down

1. Lit. to cut down something, such as a tree, with an ax. Please don't chop my favorite tree down. Don't chop down this tree!

2. Fig. to destroy something, such as a plan or an idea. The committee chopped the idea down in its early stages. They chopped down a great idea!

chop something off (of) something

and chop something off

to cut something off something, as with an axe or saw. (Of is usually retained before pronouns.) We chopped the dead branches off the tree. You should chop off the other branch.

See also: chop, off

lick one's chops

Fig. to show one's eagerness to do something, especially to eat something. We could tell from the way the boys were licking their chops that they really wanted a turn at riding the motorcycle. Fred started licking his chops when he smelled the turkey roasting in the oven.

See also: chops, lick

lick one's chops

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).

See also: chops, lick

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

chop and change

BRITISH

COMMON If someone chops and changes, they keep changing their plans, often when it is not necessary. After chopping and changing for the first year, they have settled down to a stable system of management. All this chopping and changing serves no useful purpose. Note: This expression was originally used to refer to people buying and selling goods. To `chop' meant to trade or barter, and `change' came from `exchange'.

See also: and, change, chop

bust someone's chops

AMERICAN, INFORMAL

If you bust someone's chops, you tease them or criticize them for something. His friends bust his chops about being voted the `best-dressed man'. This is not a good time to bust his chops about his poor communication skills.

See also: bust, chops

Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

bust someone's chops

nag or criticize someone. North American informal

See also: bust, chops

bust your chops

exert yourself. North American informal

See also: bust, chops

chop and change

change your opinions or behaviour repeatedly and abruptly, often for no good reason. British informal

Both chop and change originally had the sense of ‘barter’, ‘exchange’, or ‘buy and sell’, but as this sense of chop became dated the meaning of the whole expression shifted to its present one.

See also: and, change, chop

chop logic

argue in a tiresomely pedantic way; quibble.

Chop is here used in the 16th-century sense meaning ‘bandy words’. This sense is now obsolete, and the sense of chop used in this phrase was later wrongly understood as ‘cut something into small pieces’.

ˌchop and ˈchange

(British English, informal) change your plans, opinions or methods too often: I wish he’d make up his mind — I’m tired of all this chopping and changing.

See also: and, change, chop

chop off

To cut something short by or as if by chopping; curtail something: The barber chopped my ponytail off. The butcher chopped off a hunk of meat for me.

See also: chop, off

chop out

To remove something by chopping or cutting; excise something: I chopped out a big piece of wood from the log. The editor always chops all the jokes out of the manuscripts.

chop up

1. To cut something into small pieces with a sharp tool: The cook chopped up the parsley. I chopped an onion up and added it to the soup.

2. To divide something into smaller segments: The editor chopped the manuscript up into distinct chapters. I chopped up the long drive by making frequent stops.

bust (someone's) chops

1. To scold or insult someone.

2. To disappoint or defeat someone.

3. To hold a building contractor to the letter of an agreement.

See also: bust, chops

lick (one's) chops

To anticipate delightedly.

See also: chops, lick

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

lick one's chops, to

To anticipate something with obvious pleasure. The word chops (or chaps) has meant the jaws or mouth since about 1350, usually referring to the lower jaw of animals. This meaning survives in the current cliché, as well as in musicians’ slang for the embouchure of wind instruments. In jazz slang of the 1930s and 1940s, licking one’s chops meant warming up before a performance. In jazz parlance chops also came to mean ability or skill, a usage from the 1960s.