Chap Meaning
/t͡ʃæp/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA man, a fellow.
nounA customer, a buyer.
Sentence Examples
My dear chap, I'm overjoyed to see you.
In the winter, my lips would chap.
CEFR Practice Quiz
That friendly old ____ helped me fix my car this morning.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He is a very friendly ____ who is always ready to help his friends.
Word Origin & History
Clipping of chapman (“dealer, customer”) in 16th-century English.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"“Now when I was a little chap I had a passion for maps.”"
— 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 194:
"A chap named Eleazir Kendrick and I had chummed in together the summer afore and built a fish-weir and shanty at Setuckit Point, down Orham way. For a spell we done pretty well."
— 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
"‘No. I only opened the door a foot and put my head in. The street lamps shine into that room. I could see him. He was all right. Sleeping like a great grampus. Poor, poor chap.’"
— 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 20, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
"If you have Blacks of any kind, brought in of late; Mantoes--Velvet Scarfs--Petticoats--Let it be what it will--I am your Chap--for all my Ladies are very fond of Mourning."
— 1728, John Gay, The Beggar's Opera, Act 3:
"Then would unbalanced heat licentious reign, / Crack the dry hill, and chap the russet plain."
— 1712, Richard Blackmore, Creation: A Philosophical Poem:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
That friendly old ____ helped me fix my car this morning.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He is a very friendly ____ who is always ready to help his friends.