E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Chop’ine (2 syl.), or Chopin.
A high-heeled shoe. The Venetian ladies used to wear “high-heeled shoes like stilts.” Hamlet says of the actress, “Your ladyship is nearer to heaven, than when I saw you last, by the altitude of a chopine” (act ii. s. 2). (Spanish, chapin, a high cork shoe.)
