chopping (adj.) Look up chopping at Dictionary.com
"large and thriving," 1560s, past participle adjective from chop (v.). Compare strapping, whopping in similar sense.
chopping. An epithet frequently applied to infants, by way of ludicrous commendation: imagined by Skinner to signify lusty, from cas Sax. by others to mean a child that would bring money at a market. Perhaps a greedy, hungry child, likely to live. [Johnson]