lick one s chops

lick (one's) chops 1. To anticipate eating (something) with great eagerness or appetite. I was licking my chops when the waiter set the juicy steak down in front of me. 2. To show one's impatience or excitement to do something.

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lick (one's) chops (redirected from licking their chops)
lick (one's) chops
1. To anticipate eating (something) with great eagerness or appetite.
I was licking my chops when the waiter set the juicy steak down in front of me.
2. To show one's impatience or excitement to do something.
You should have seen John at the car show. He was licking his chops looking at all those fancy sports cars.
My detractors were practically licking their chops when they heard that my proposal had failed.
See also: chops, lick
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
lick one's chops
Fig. to show one's eagerness to do something, especially to eat something. We could tell from the way the boys were licking their chops that they really wanted a turn at riding the motorcycle. Fred started licking his chops when he smelled the turkey roasting in the oven.
See also: chops, lick
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
lick one's chops
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).
See also: chops, lick
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
lick (one's) chops
To anticipate delightedly.
See also: chops, lick
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
lick one's chops, to
To anticipate something with obvious pleasure. The word chops (or chaps) has meant the jaws or mouth since about 1350, usually referring to the lower jaw of animals. This meaning survives in the current clich;, as well as in musicians’ slang for the embouchure of wind instruments. In jazz slang of the 1930s and 1940s, licking one’s chops meant warming up before a performance. In jazz parlance chops also came to mean ability or skill, a usage from the 1960s.
See also: lick, to
The Dictionary of Clich;s by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer
See also:
lick chops
lick one's chops
lick one's chops, to
lick your lips
lick lips
lick (one's) lips
get a licking
give (one's) left nut to (do something)
as I was saying
flap (one's) chops