CHOP

(1) As applied to meat, generally mutton, lamb, or pork, it is a eut either from the rack or the loin (see reference on page 341 in the article on Murron). (2) As commercially applied to Chinese tea, etc., it signifies either the grade—‘‘first chop,’’ then signifying ‘‘first quality’’—or a special brand or lot. In its true and original Oriental significance, it is a custom-house seal or mark. CHOPA (Lagodon rhomboides), or Chopa Spina, or Bream, or “Sailor’s choice,” a small, highly prized pan-fish of our Atlantic coast, greenish above and gold-striped silvery-blue on the sides. Several tropical fishes bear the same title.