lick one's chops

Idioms and Phrases

Also, lick one's lips . Anticipate with great pleasure. For example, The kids were licking their chops as Mother described the family vacation plans , or I couldn't help but lick my lips when she talked about the menu . Both expressions allude to anticipating a tasty morsel of food. The second is the older, dating from about 1500 and used interchangeably with lick one's fingers , now seldom heard. The first also served as 1930s jazz slang for warming up, chops meaning “the jaw or mouth” (a usage dating from the 1300s).

Related Words

• salivate