ETYMOLOGY
from nimble + the plural of chop (the jaws and cavity of the mouth)
EXAMPLE
“…Why frend Nimblechaps me thinks you seeme rather ready to play with ye shadowe of euery thing then wi[l]ling to vnderstand the substantiall matter in any thing: can you rightly gather vpon my speech that a woman is euill? if you do well vnderstande mee, you shal finde nothing lesse, but rather that shee is for the most parte one of the greatest good thinges in this world, and most necessary of any thing els besydes…”
From: A Short Inuentory of Certayne Idle Inuentions
The Fruites of a Close and Secret Garden of Great Ease, and Litle Pleasure
By C. Thimelthorpe, 1581
Lexicophilia 