From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishchop at something phrasal verbSWING A TOOLCUTto hit something with a sharp tool in order to cut it They chopped at the bushes with their knives. → chop→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
chop at • There was Mrs Katz, impossibly animated, chopping at her mind.• He turned and waded back into the wheat and chopped at it with a shovel.• We watched the men bundle up their parachutes and move off through the dense undergrowth, chopping at it with jungle machetes.• And I would rather do anything than chop at stumps that were bigger across than a small crowd.• And there were men chopping at the trees. 