chump

¹ American  

[chuhmp] / tʃʌmp /

noun

1. Informal. a stupid person; dolt.

   Don't be a chump—she's kidding you along.

2. a short, thick piece of wood.

3. the thick, blunt end of anything.

4. Slang. the head.

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idioms

1. off one's chump, crazy.

chump ² American  

[chuhmp] / tʃʌmp /

verb (used with or without object)

1. to bite or chew; munch.

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chump ¹ British  

/ tʃʌmp /

noun

1. informal a stupid person

2. a thick heavy block of wood

3. 1. the thick blunt end of anything, esp of a piece of meat

   2. ( as modifier )

      a chump chop

4. slang the head (esp in the phrase off one's chump )

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chump ² British  

/ tʃʌmp /

verb

1. a less common word for chomp

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Other Word Forms

• chumpish adjective
• chumpishness noun

Etymology

Origin of chump¹

1695–1705; perhaps blend of chunk ¹ and lump ¹

Origin of chump²

First recorded in 1850–55; variant of champ ¹

Example Sentences

Of course, $75 million is chump change for Amazon, which makes hundreds of billion dollars in revenue a year from both its online sales and Amazon Web Services cloud unit.

From Barron's • Jan. 29, 2026

"I’m the chump who thought social media could change the world," he told his audience at the Digital Futures Institute.

From BBC • Sep. 13, 2024

What is clear is that the Angels got back some chump change for the four players claimed today but the cost in prospects to acquire them might be immeasurable.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 31, 2023

It’s emphatically true that if you cast these norms in that light, you begin to look like a chump.

From Slate • Jun. 21, 2023

He was chubby and pale, and the other instructors didn’t seem to respect him much; driving the bus was, apparently, a chump job.

From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover