chatter
EnglishEdit
PronunciationEdit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈtʃætə/
- (General American) enPR: chătʹər, IPA(key): /ˈtʃætɚ/
- Rhymes: -ætə(ɹ)
Audio (UK) (file)
Etymology 1Edit
From Middle English chateren, from earlier cheteren, chiteren (“to twitter, chatter, jabber”), of imitative origin. Compare West Frisian tsjotterje (“to chatter”), Dutch schateren (“chatter”), schetteren, Dutch koeteren (“jabber”), dialectal German kaudern (“to gobble (like a turkey)”), Danish kvidre (“to twitter, chirp”).
NounEdit
chatter (usually uncountable, plural chatters)
- Talk, especially meaningless or unimportant talk.
- Synonyms: chattering, chatting, nattering; see also Thesaurus:chatter
- The sound of talking.
- The vocalisations of a Eurasian magpie, Pica pica.
- The vocalisations of various birds or other animals.
- 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, H.L. Brækstad, transl., Folk and Fairy Tales, page 117:
- The hare cried and complained of the terrible February cold and the disgusting chatter of the owls[.]
- 1912, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World, page 114:
- At dawn and at sunset the howler monkeys screamed together and the parakeets broke into shrill chatter, but during the hot hours of the day only the full drone of insects, like the beat of a distant surf, filled the ear, while nothing moved amid the solemn vistas of stupendous trunks, fading away into the darkness which held us in.
- 2016, Cornelia F. Mutel, A Sugar Creek Chronicle (page 41)
- The wind rose as the earth darkened, so that fading chatters of woodland animals were countered by the strengthening sounds of waving trees […]
- An intermittent noise, as from vibration.
- Proper brake adjustment will help to reduce the chatter.
- (uncountable) In national security, the degree of communication between suspect groups and individuals, used to gauge the degree of expected terrorist activity.
- The NSA is concerned about increased chatter between known terror groups.
- (uncountable) The situation where a drill or similar tool vibrates and tears the material rather than cutting it cleanly.
TranslationsEdit
talk, especially meaningless or unimportant talk
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sound of talking
sound of a magpie
intermittent noise, as from vibration
degree of communication between suspects
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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VerbEdit
chatter (third-person singular simple present chatters, present participle chattering, simple past and past participle chattered)
- (intransitive) To talk idly.
- c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene ii], page 222:
- That teacheth trickes eleuen and twentie long, / To tame a ſhrew, and charme her chattering tongue.
- (intransitive) Of teeth, machinery, etc, to make a noise by rapid collisions.
- To utter sounds which somewhat resemble language, but are inarticulate and indistinct.
- 1815 [1802], William Wordsworth, Resolution and Independence:
- The jay makes answer, as the magpie chatters with delight.
TranslationsEdit
talk idly
make a chattering noise
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to utter sounds that are largely inarticulate
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Etymology 2Edit
NounEdit
chatter (plural chatters)
- One who chats.
- (Internet) A user of chat rooms.
- 2013, Michael K. Sullivan, Sexual Minorities, page 148:
- During the chat sessions, two outreach team members would engage in a conversation about the topic chosen for that event in the main chat room and entice other chatters to join in.
Further readingEdit
- chatter in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- chatter in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
- chatter at OneLook Dictionary Search