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chatter

[chat-er]
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verb (used without object)
  1. to talk rapidly in a foolish or purposeless way; jabber.
  2. to utter a succession of quick, inarticulate, speechlike sounds, as monkeys or certain birds.
  3. to make a rapid clicking noise by striking together: His teeth were chattering from the cold.
  4. Machinery. (of a cutting tool or piece of metal) to vibrate during cutting so as to produce surface flaws on the work.
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verb (used with object)
  1. to utter rapidly or purposelessly.
  2. to cause to chatter, as the teeth from cold.
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noun
  1. purposeless or foolish talk.
  2. a series of waves or ridges on the surface of a piece of metal that has been imperfectly drawn or extruded.
  3. the act or sound of chattering.
  4. online, phone, radio, or other electronic communication among people, often involving a harmful political activity such as espionage or terrorism: Officials were able to intercept and identify a high level of terrorist chatter in the weeks before the bombing attempt.
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Origin of chatter

1200–50; Middle English chateren; imitative
Related formschat·ter·ing·ly, adverbchat·ter·y, adjectiveout·chat·ter, verb (used with object)un·chat·ter·ing, adjective

Synonyms

See more synonyms for chatter on Thesaurus.com
2. clatter, click.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for chattering

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • A chattering and hurrying of people could be heard as an undertone.

    The Leopard Woman

    Stewart Edward White

  • Every road teemed with a chattering crowd of men and boys afoot and on horses.

  • By the time they entered Tiverton Street, the vestry was full of chattering groups.

    Meadow Grass

    Alice Brown

  • Now, here am I, chattering away as if I were paid for talking instead of writing.

  • It was a relief to find herself among a group of chattering people.

    The Coryston Family

    Mrs. Humphry Ward

British Dictionary definitions for chattering

chatter

verb
  1. to speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly; prattle
  2. (intr) (of birds, monkeys, etc) to make rapid repetitive high-pitched noises resembling human speech
  3. (intr) (of the teeth) to click together rapidly through cold or fear
  4. (intr) to make rapid intermittent contact with a component, as in machining, causing irregular cutting
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noun
  1. idle or foolish talk; gossip
  2. the high-pitched repetitive noise made by a bird, monkey, etc
  3. the rattling of objects, such as parts of a machine
  4. Also called: chatter mark the undulating pattern of marks in a machined surface from the vibration of the tool or workpiece
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Derived Formschattery, adjective

Word Origin

C13: of imitative origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for chattering

chatter

n.

mid-13c., originally of birds, from chatter (v.).

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chatter

v.

early 13c., chateren "to twitter, gossip," earlier cheateren, chiteren, of echoic origin. Cf. Dutch koeteren "jabber," Danish kvidre "twitter, chirp." Related: Chattered; chattering. Phrase chattering class in use by 1893, with a reference perhaps from 1843:

Such was the most interesting side of the fatal event to that idle chattering class of London life to whom the collision of heaven and earth were important only as affording matter for "news!" [Catherine Grace F. Gore ("Mrs. Gore"), "The Banker's Wife," 1843]
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper