chap

/tʃæp/

/tʃæp/

Other forms: chaps; chapped; chapping

A chap is a guy or a fellow — a boy or man who's a friend, acquaintance, or a friendly stranger. You might ask a chap on the bus if the seat beside him is free.

You can refer to any male person as a chap, and you can also address him that way: "Hello there, old chap! I haven't seen you in ages!" It's more common in Britain than the US, where the chap will know what you mean but might look at you oddly. Chaps also means a cowboy's leather pants, and when it's a verb chap means to become dry, cracked, and painful from wind or cold.

Definitions of chap

1. noun

   a boy or man
   “that chap is your host”

   synonyms: blighter, bloke, cuss, fella, feller, fellow, gent, lad

   types:

   dog

   informal term for a man

   type of:

   male, male person

   a person who belongs to the sex that cannot have babies
2. noun

   (usually in the plural) leather leggings without a seat; joined by a belt; often have flared outer flaps; worn over trousers by cowboys to protect their legs
   synonyms: chaps

   type of:

   leg covering, legging, leging

   a garment covering the leg (usually extending from the knee to the ankle)
3. verb

   crack due to dehydration
   “My lips chap in this dry weather”

   type of:

   crack

   break partially but keep its integrity
4. noun

   a crack in a lip caused usually by cold
   type of:

   cleft, crack, crevice, fissure, scissure

   a long narrow opening
5. noun

   a long narrow depression in a surface
   synonyms: crack, cranny, crevice, fissure

   type of:

   depression, impression, imprint

   a concavity in a surface produced by pressing