chatter
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈtʃætə/
enpr: chătʹər
ipa: /ˈt͡ʃætɚ/
rhymes: -ætə(ɹ)
Forms: form: chatters
Etymology: From Middle English chateren, from earlier cheteren, chiteren (“to twitter, chatter, jabber”), of imitative origin. Compare Saterland Frisian tjoaterje (“to chatter”), West Frisian tsjotterje (“to chatter”), Dutch schateren, schetteren (“chatter”), Dutch koeteren (“jabber”), Middle Low German kidderen (“to chatter”), German Low German queteln (“to chatter”), dialectal German kaudern (“to gobble (like a turkey)”), Danish kvidre (“to twitter, chirp”).
Senses: examples: text: Although hardly coming under my theme, I cannot omit this: "Against a woman's chatter: Taste at night fasting a root of radish, that day the chatter cannot harm thee."
ref: 1940, Rosetta E. Clarkson, Green Enchantments: The Magic Spell of Gardens, The Macmillan Company, page 257:
synonyms: chattering
chatting
nattering
glosses: Talk, especially meaningless or unimportant talk.
glosses: The sound of talking.
glosses: The vocalisations of a Eurasian magpie, Pica pica.
examples: text: The hare cried and complained of the terrible February cold and the disgusting chatter of the owls[.]
ref: 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 117:
text: 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.
ref: 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, “‘The Outlying Pickets of the New World’”, in The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC, page 114:
text: The wind rose as the earth darkened, so that fading chatters of woodland animals were countered by the strengthening sounds of waving trees […]
ref: 2016, Cornelia F. Mutel, A Sugar Creek Chronicle, page 41:
glosses: The vocalisations of various birds or other animals.
examples: text: Proper brake adjustment will help to reduce the chatter.
glosses: An intermittent noise, as from vibration.
examples: text: The NSA is concerned about increased chatter between known terror groups.
glosses: In national security, the degree of communication between suspect groups and individuals, used to gauge the degree of expected terrorist activity.
glosses: The situation where a drill or similar tool vibrates and tears the material rather than cutting it cleanly.
Synonyms: word: babble
word: bavardage
word: bibble-babble
word: blab
word: blabber
word: blabbing
word: blather
word: blathering
word: chatter
word: chinwag
word: chit-chat
word: claver
word: clepe
word: gabble
word: hot air
word: mardle
word: natter
word: palaver
word: prate
word: prattle
word: scuttlebutt
topics: nautical
transport
word: small talk
word: tattle
word: twaddle
word: waffle
word: yackety-yak
word: yap
word: yatter
Hypernyms: word: talk
Derived terms: antichatter
chatterati
chatteration
chatterbag
chatter-basket
chatterbot
chatterbox
chatterish
chatter ring
chattersome
chitter-chatter
cyberchatter
roof-brain chatter
Related terms: word: chatterbox
word: talkative
word: nonsense