What are chops?

About ten years ago I had a roomate, a French horn player, that tended to bum around between orchestra gigs. Sometime or another, I heard him say "I need to get my chops up" after a long time with no practice.

At this time, I found myself in the point of my design education where I was drawing several hours a day, and getting better at it. I noticed that the draughtsmanship skills would build slowly and steadily, but that they diminish quickly if you took any sort of break. The learning does return more quickly than at first, and the re-learning helps reinforce the individual lessons, but sustained practice is necessary so you keep moving on to the next level.

I've had jobs where basic drawing skills are essential, and I believe everyone would benefit from that level of spatial understanding. But, like most art directors and designers, I've delegated my most intensive drawing challenges to others, and the majority of design work requires no draughtsmanship (though the skill does help design). Regardless, in my current mode of unemployed ambition, I am struggling to get my chops up and find my next challenge.

To that end, I should get back to drawing.