chat

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle)

CIDE DICTIONARY

chat, v. i. [From Chatter. √22.].

 To talk in a light and familiar manner; to converse without form or ceremony; to gossip.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
"To chat a while on their adventures."

Syn. -- To talk; chatter; gossip; converse.

chat, v. t. 

 To talk of.  [1913 Webster]

chat, n. 

•  Light, familiar talk; conversation; gossip.  [1913 Webster]

  "Snuff, or fan, supply each pause of chat,
  With singing, laughing, ogling, and all that."  [1913 Webster]
•  A bird of the genus Icteria, allied to the warblers, in America. The best known species are the yellow-breasted chat (Icteria viridis), and the long-tailed chat (Icteria longicauda). In Europe the name is given to several birds of the family Saxicolidæ, as the stonechat, and whinchat.  [1913 Webster]

Bush chat. (Zoöl.) See under Bush.

chat, n. 

•  A twig, cone, or little branch. See Chit.  [1913 Webster]
•  Small stones with ore.  [1913 Webster]

Chat potatoes, small potatoes, such as are given to swine. [Local.]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

chat, v. & n.
--v.intr. (chatted, chatting) talk in a light familiar way.
--n.
1 informal conversation or talk.
2 an instance of this.

Idiom

chat show Brit. a television or radio programme in which celebrities are interviewed informally. chat up Brit. colloq. chat to, esp. flirtatiously or with an ulterior motive.

chat, n. any of various small birds with harsh calls, esp. a stonechat or whinchat or any of certain American or Australian warblers.

Etymology

prob. imit.

THESAURUS

chat

babble, babblement, bavardage, be closeted with, bibble-babble, blab, blabber, blah-blah, blather, blether, blethers, bull session, bullshit, burble, cackle, caquet, caqueterie, causerie, chatter, chew the fat, chin, chitter-chatter, clack, clatter, colloque, colloquy, compare, confab, confabulate, confabulation, conversation, converse, coze, cozy chat, dialogue, dish, dither, entice, flirt with, friendly chat, gab, gabble, gam, gas, gibber, gibble-gabble, go on, gossip, guff, gush, haver, heart-to-heart, heart-to-heart talk, hot air, idle talk, induce, inveigle, jabber, jaw, lallygag, little talk, lure, make conversation, mere talk, natter, nonsense talk, palaver, parley, patter, persuade, pour forth, prate, prating, prattle, prevail upon, prittle-prattle, proposition, prose, ramble on, rap, rap session, rattle, rattle on, reel off, run on, seduce, shoot the breeze, small talk, smatter, spout, spout off, talk, talk away, talk nonsense, talk on, talkee-talkee, tempt, tete-a-tete, tinkle, tittle-tattle, twaddle, twattle, twiddle, twitter, visit, waffle, yak, yakkety-yak, yammer, yap, yarn

ROGET THESAURUS

chat

Conversation

N conversation, interlocution, collocution, colloquy, converse, confabulation, talk, discourse, verbal intercourse, oral communication, commerce, dialogue, duologue, trialogue, causerie, chat, chitchat, small talk, table talk, teatable talk, town talk, village talk, idle talk, tattle, gossip, tittle-tattle, babble, babblement, tripotage, cackle, prittle-prattle, cancan, on dit, talk of the town, talk of the village, conference, parley, interview, audience, pourparler, tete-a-tete, reception, conversazione, congress, powwow, hall of audience, durbar, palaver, debate, logomachy, war of words, gossip, tattler, Paul Pry, tabby, chatterer, interlocutor, conversationist, dialogist, the feast of reason and the flow of soul, mollia tempora fandi, conversing, interlocutory, conversational, conversable, discursive, discoursive, chatty, colloquial, with thee conversing I forget all time.

VB talk together, converse, confabulate, hold on a conversation, carry on a conversation, join in a conversation, engage in a conversation, put in a word, shine in conversation, bandy words, parley, palaver, chat, gossip, tattle, prate, powwow, discourse with, confer with, commune with, commerce with, hold converse, hold conference, hold intercourse, talk it over, be closeted with, talk with one in private, tete-a-tete.