brother chip en · NOUN
Etymology
Compare chips (“a carpenter”).
Meanings
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(UK, archaic, slang) Term of address for a fellow tradesman, originally a carpenter.
He was saluted by Mr. James Hall, with these words: “Well, brother chip! How many murders have you been committing?”
1853, Talbot Gwynne, The School for Dreamers: A Story of the Present Day, page 208: