chelp

verb — 2 senses

chelp

verb

Etymology Probably of imitative origin; perhaps from ch(irp) + (y)elp.

1

Northern England To gossip, particularly in a forthright manner.

  • He's not here so we are chelping in the staffroom and ignoring the to-do list on the board.
  • 1820, John Clare, “My Mary” in Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery, London: Taylor and Hessey, p. 87, Who’s laugh’d at too by every whelp, For failings which she cannot help? But silly fools will laugh and chelp, My Mary.
2

Northern England To speak rudely or out of turn.

  • The teacher got angry at all her chelping.

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