flat chat

adv, adj — 2 senses

flat chat

adv

1

Australia, Idiomatic At maximum capability, intensity, or speed.

We had the car going flat chat down the highway when the cops pulled us over.
If there was a radio we'd have it going flat-chat, boy.1987, Tim Winton, That Eye, The Sky, page 110:

2 more examples

I spun around yet again and took off flat chat.1998, John Marsden, The Night is for Hunting, unnumbered page:
I′m driving flat chat as I cross Green Gully, a nondescript depression in the wide flat plain of western New South Wales.2012, Chris Hammer, The River: A Journey Through the Murray-Darling Basin, page 166:

flat chat

adj

1

Australia, Idiomatic Extremely busy.

Can you call me back tomorrow, mate? I′m flat chat at the moment.
“Look,” he went on, “I don′t even remember writing anything in the bloody diary, for Christ′s sake. I was flat chat at the time.”1997, Alexis Wright, Plains of Promise, page 228:

2 more examples

“Sorry, I′m flat chat with work. I don′t see how you can get away until Saturday.”2007, Joanna Hunt, Jacqui′s Dilemma, page 64:
2009, Sean Dooley, Cooking With Baz, Large Print 16pt Edition, page 167, Except that I was too flat chat to get up and collect it myself so I motioned to Wok as surreptitiously as I could, nodding in the direction of the note lying invitingly on the asphalt. Wok stared back at me uncomprehendingly.

Related terms: flat out, flat strap

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