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.

---

idioms

1. off one's chump, crazy.

chump ² American  

[chuhmp] / tʃʌmp /

verb (used with or without object)

1. to bite or chew; munch.

---

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 )

---

chump ² British  

/ tʃʌmp /

verb

1. a less common word for chomp

---

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

But that’s chump change, if such a thing can be said of seven-figure purses, compared to the $20-million Saudi Cup and $12-million Dubai World Cup.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 25, 2024

"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

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

I had heard too many women bragging, “I told that chump ‘Get lost!’

From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey