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chat

verb, noun, intj — 16 senses

chat

verb

US, UK /ˈt͡ʃæt/

Etymology Clipping of chatter. The bird sense refers to the sound of its call.

1

To be engaged in informal conversation.

  • She chatted with her friend in the cafe.
  • I like to chat over a coffee with a friend.
2

To talk a while in a friendly manner.

  • I met my old friend in the street, so we chatted for a while.
3

To talk of; to discuss.

  • They chatted politics for a while.
  • We would get totally stoned and usually drunk too and chat a load of nonsense into the small hours.2014, Lenny Smith, Choices, page 43:
4

Informal, Often, Slang, As chatting To chat shit (to speak nonsense, to lie).

  • Don't listen to me, I'm chatting.
5

To exchange text or voice messages in real time through a computer network such as a social media chat room or messaging application (as if having a face-to-face conversation instead of SMS or writing emails or letters).

  • Do you want to chat online later?
Synonyms
visit
Derived terms
chat away, chatline, chat shit, chat show, chat up, chat-up line, chop and chat, live-chat

chat

noun

Etymology Clipping of chatter. The bird sense refers to the sound of its call.

7 senses
  1. 1Informal conversation.
  2. 2An exchange of text or voice messages in real time…
  3. 3A chat room, especially (in later use) one accompanying…
  4. 4The entirety of users, viewed collectively, in a chat…
  5. 5Familiar term of address for users on social media other…
  6. 6Any of various small Old World passerine birds in the…
  7. 7Any of several small Australian honeyeaters in the genus…
1

Informal conversation.

  • It'd be cool to meet up again soon and have a quick chat.
  • Reg liked a chat about old times and we used to go and have a chinwag in the pub.1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
2

An exchange of text or voice messages in real time through a computer network, resembling a face-to-face conversation.

  • Internet Relay Chat
3

Internet, With or without "the" A chat room, especially (in later use) one accompanying a videoconference or live stream.

  • "Type yes in (the) chat if you can hear me."
  • While there are chats for various interest groups (games, Internet, sports), you can also […]1997, Meg Booker, The Insider's Guide to America Online, page 256:
4

Internet, Metonymically, With or without "the" The entirety of users, viewed collectively, in a chat room, especially the chat room accompanying a live stream.

  • The chat just made a joke about my poor skillz.
  • "Chat, should I pick up this sword before heading out?"
1 more example
  • Chat, is this prime minister serious?2024 September 11, Fatima Payman, 00:48 from the start, in Skibidi Senator Payman + 100,000 aura (video), archived from the original on 12 Sep 2024:
5

Internet, Broadly, Humorous, Nonstandard, With or without "the" Familiar term of address for users on social media other than a chat room, as in "guys."

6

Any of various small Old World passerine birds in the muscicapid tribe Saxicolini or subfamily Saxicolinae that feed on insects.

7

Any of several small Australian honeyeaters in the genus Epthianura.

Derived terms
50 termsbackchat, back-chat, back chat, bechat, chatathon, chatbot, chatbox, chatfest, chat fiction, ChatGPT, chatgroup, chat group, chathead, chatiquette, chatless, chatlog, chatmate, chatroom, chat-room, chat site, chatspace, chatspeak, chatteration, chatterer, chatterish, chattily, chattiness, chatty, chat-tyrant, chatwood, chitchat, chit-chat, chit chat, cyberchat, e-chat, enter the chat, F in the chat, fireside chat, group chat, hot chat, Internet Relay Chat, leave the chat, L in the chat, midchat, Snapchat, vidchat, video chat, webchat, web chat, W in the chat
Hyponyms
anteater chat, bushchat, chatshrike, chat-tanager, fallowchat, furzechat, palmchat, robin-chat, rock chat, rufous bush chat, stonechat, whinchat, yellow-breasted chat

chat

intj

Etymology Clipping of chatter. The bird sense refers to the sound of its call.

1

Humorous, Informal Used to introduce a question, to address all the other people present.

  • Chat, is this real?

chat

noun

Etymology Compare chit (“small piece of paper”), and chad.

1

A small potato, such as is given to swine.

  • Wheat and potatoes were traditionally cash crops, though they also provided tail corn for the poultry and chats for the pigs1978, Joan Thirsk, Edith Holt Whetham, H. P. R. Finberg, The Agrarian History of England and Wales: Volume 8, 1914-1939, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 5:

chat

noun

Etymology Unknown.

1

Business, Mining Regional Mining waste from lead and zinc mines.

  • Frank had been looking at calcite crystals for a while now [...] among the chats or zinc tailings of the Lake County mines, down here in the silver lodes of the Vita Madre and so forth.2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 441:

chat

noun

Etymology From thieves' cant.

1

Government, Military, Politics, War Australia, New Zealand, UK, World War I, Slang A louse (small, parasitic insect).

  • 'Do officers have chats, then, the same as us?' 'Not the same, no. The chats they got is bigger and better, with pips on their shoulders and Sam Browne belts.'1977, Mary Emily Pearce, Apple Tree Lean Down, page 520
  • May a thousand chats from Belgium crawl under their fingers as they write.2007, How Can I Sleep when the Seagull Calls?, →ISBN, page 18:
1 more example
  • Trench foot was a nasty and potentially fatal foot disease commonly caused by these conditions, in which chats or body lice were the bane of all.2013, Graham Seal, The Soldiers' Press: Trench Journals in the First World War, →ISBN, page 149:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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