(lops, lopping, lopped)
• lop off
1.
If you lop something off, you cut it away from what it was attached to, usually with a quick, strong stroke.
Somebody lopped the heads off our tulips.
...men with axes, lopping off branches...
His ponytail had been lopped off.
= chop
PHRASAL VERB: V n P, V P n (not pron), V P n (not pron)
2.
If you lop an amount of money or time off something such as a budget or a schedule, you reduce the budget or schedule by that amount. (INFORMAL)
The Air France plane lopped over four hours off the previous best time...
More than 100 million pounds will be lopped off the prison building programme.
PHRASAL VERB: V n P n, V n P n, also V P n (not pron), V n P