Lick one’s chops

Origin of: Lick one’s chops

Lick one’s chops

To lick one’s chops is to display hunger or, when used figuratively, means to anticipate something or other with relish, both usages date from the mid-17th century. Chops was originally Standard English for one’s jaw from the early 1500s, but had become low informal speech by the mid-17th century.