channel-hop, v.
Brit. /ˈtʃanlˌhɒp/, U.S. /ˈtʃænəlˌ(h)ɑp/
[‹ channel n.1 + hop v.1 With sense 2 compare channel hopper n., earlier in this sense.]
1. intr. orig. U.S. To change frequently between television channels, using a remote control device; to switch from one channel to another. Occas. trans.: to change frequently between (television channels or programmes). Also in extended use.
| 1977 Business Week 12 Sept. 52 h/3 A viewer may channel-hop at commercial time, and still keep an eye on the minipicture in order to get back before a program resumes. 1986 Daily Tel. 4 Nov. 17/2 Because television can be viewed in inattention, tuned in and out of, channel hopped, it didn't develop the concentration needed to read a book, listen to a teacher or even read a comic. 1991 Hist. Workshop Spring 159, I suspect few will read it from cover to cover, preferring instead to dip into it, discontinuously ‘channel-hopping’. 1999I. McBride in A. Rosenthal Why Docudrama? viii. 116 On one of those empty evenings between business meetings, a woman channel hopped to PBS and landed on something strange. 2001 Sunday Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 15 Sept. 9 This exhibition is unlikely to shock... You'll walk away feeling like you've channel-hopped ten different stories. |
2. intr. Chiefly Brit. Usually with capital initial. To travel across the English Channel (and back), esp. frequently or for only a brief visit. Freq. with to.
Hop here variously implies the short duration of the journey, the brevity of visit, or frequency of trips.
| [1984 Christian Sci. Monitor (Nexis) 22 June 23 (heading) English Channel hop air fares drop.] 1988 Today 16 Jan. 26/6 Parts of northern France are so near to England it is possible to pop over for the weekend. Channel-hop to Normandy for cream and Calvados and a choice of barns, wattle-and-daub cottages and chateaux. 2000 Scotsman (Electronic ed.) 6 May More than seven million people channel-hop to Calais each year to take advantage of reduced prices. |