chinwag

American

[chin-wag] / ˈtʃɪnˌwæg /

verb (used without object)

chinwagged, chinwagging

to chat idly; gossip.

noun

an idle chat; gossiping.

chinwag British

/ ˈtʃɪnˌwæɡ /

noun

informal a chat or gossipy conversation

"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

Etymology

Origin of chinwag

First recorded in 1875–80; chin + wag

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

chinwag chinwagging

Down at Fort Lauderdale two weeks ago, at the squad's pre-tournament camp at Inter Miami's training centre, Clarke came over to the pitch-side media - unexpectedly - for a wee chinwag.

From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026

It got quite deep for a glitzy award show chinwag.

From BBC ● Feb. 28, 2026

Is it a grand intellectual battle, or just an insiders’ chinwag?

From New York Times ● Mar. 13, 2024

My first comment today concerns not the comments of the other contributors to this Slate chinwag, but rather Linda Greenhouse’s New York Times op-ed Thursday about the Supreme Court’s cellphone decision, Riley v.

From Slate ● Jun. 30, 2014

The FA has had a bit of a chinwag and, according to Adrian Bevington, the managing director of Club England, the decision has been taken two years before any appointment will be made.

From The Guardian ● Aug. 16, 2010

Amid all the chinwagging and finger-pointing this week about assorted inclusions and exclusions in England's pre-World Cup squad, one man whose non-selection has provoked no controversy whatsoever is the Bolton striker Kevin Davies.

From The Guardian ● May 13, 2010

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023