chatter
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈtʃætə/
- (General American) enPR: chătʹər, IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃætɚ/
- Rhymes: -ætə(ɹ)
Audio (UK) (file)
Etymology 1
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”).
Noun
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 […]
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- 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.
Derived terms
- chatter-basket
- chatter ring
- chitter-chatter
- roof-brain chatter
Translations
talk, especially meaningless or unimportant talk
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sound of talking
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sound of a magpie
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intermittent noise, as from vibration
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degree of communication between suspects
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Verb
chatter (third-person singular simple present chatters, present participle chattering, simple past and past participle chattered)
- (intransitive) To talk idly.
- Synonyms: chat, natter
- They knitted and chattered the whole time.
- c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (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.
- Synonyms: clatter, knock, (said of an engine) pink
- He was so cold that his teeth were chattering.
- 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.
- 2016, David Meyer; Abbie Moore; Pia Salk, The Total Cat Manual, Weldon Owen International, →ISBN:
- Is your cat intently staring out the window at a bird on a branch and “chattering” in a kind of shaky, high-pitched, breathy way? If so, she is expressing excitement at what she's observing (or maybe the desire to attack what she sees as prey).
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Derived terms
- chatter mark
Translations
talk idly
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make a chattering noise
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to utter sounds that are largely inarticulate
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Etymology 2
chat + -er
Noun
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.
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Further reading
- 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
Anagrams
- ratchet, traceth
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ʃa.te/, /tʃa.te/
Audio (file)
Verb
chatter
- (Internet) Alternative form of tchatter
Further reading
- “chatter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.