chippy adj. irritable, tempermental, or fractious. Editorial Note: Oxford English Dictionary cites this meaning as early as 1885 as a colloquial form of ‘given to chipping, ready to chip.’ In recent decades in North America it has become most commonly, though not exclusively, used in connection to sports play, especially hockey, where it is perhaps reinforced by the idea of rough play causing the ice to chip. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In the 15th century, the word respair meant “to have hope again.” Although this word fell out of use, it’s among dozens collected in a new book of soothing vocabulary for troubled times. Plus, baseball slang: If a batter...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski insists that the names of modern Olympic sports resulted from changing one letter in the original names for each activity. For example, he says, the pole vault must have originated from an earlier sport in which participants...