chop-chop

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Interjection

1. Used to urge someone to do something quickly

Translations

• French: vite-vite, se grouiller se grouiller, magner, et on se dépêcher, plus vite que ça !, on va pas coucher là !
• German: zack zack, dalli dalli, hopp hopp
• Italian: affrettatevi, affrettati
• Portuguese: depressa
• Russian: бы́стро-бы́стро
• Spanish: presto, pronto

Adverb

chop-chop (not comparable)

1. (slang) Quickly.
   • 1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy, Folio Society 2010, p. 13:

     ‘And another beer! But cold this time, hear that, boy? Muchee coldee, and bring it chop chop.’

Noun

chop-chop (uncountable)

1. (Australia, informal) Tobacco that is produced and sold without excise (tax), and therefore cheap and illegal.
   • 1944, Australian House of Representatives, Parliamentary Debates, Volume 265, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=BpMqAQAAIAAJ&q=%22chop-chop%22+tobacco+-intitle:%22chop-chop%22+-inauthor:%22%22&dq=%22chop-chop%22+tobacco+-intitle:%22chop-chop%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=xj0lT7_3NaKQiQeX27T2BA&redir_esc=y page 30968],

     We are here today to try and do the impossible: to stop the chop chop industry.

   • 2002 November 11, Major ‘chop chop’ seizure in Northern Queensland, Australian Taxation Office, [https://web.archive.org/web/20160310022549/https://www.ato.gov.au/corporate/content.asp?doc=%2Fcontent%2Fmr2002106.htm media release].
   • 2007, Martin Hughes, The Slow Guide: Melbourne, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=XWnN1XKjRTkC&pg=PT95&dq=%22chop-chop%22+tobacco+-intitle:%22chop-chop%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=2j8lT8LbOc7trQebkoS4CA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22chop-chop%22%20tobacco%20-intitle%3A%22chop-chop%22%20-inauthor%3A%22%22&f=false unnumbered page],

     Attitudes to tobacco mean it′s virtually sold under the counter (and we′re not talking about ‘chop chop’).

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