As far as we go, there is no other meaning for the word, as least when it is a noun--hence, our amusement at such as this:

Building magazine
1 December 2000

Holiday dilemmas

A self-employed chippy put in a claim to a builder for £1430 holiday pay under the Working Time Regulations. He didn't win, but in not very different circumstances he might well have done.

I wonder who put Paul Costello up to this wheeze. He is a chippy. He used to work for a George Wimpey subsidiary called Midland & General Developments. I say "used to" because I bet he is not one of its favourite tradesmen right now. He took the firm to the employment tribunal claiming £1430 holiday pay after working 32 weeks as a self-employed joiner, or so Midland said.


In our sense of the meaning, a chippy would also be a "self-employed joiner"--though not generally a man--