Definitions

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act or habit of talking idly or rapidly, or of making inarticulate sounds; the sounds so made; noise made by the collision of the teeth; chatter.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb Present participle of chatter.
  • noun A noise that chatters.
  • noun Output fluctuation before reaching a stable condition.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the rapid series of noises made by the parts of a machine
  • noun the high-pitched continuing noise made by animals (birds or monkeys)

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The fall through leafy branches and the dizzy heights; the snakes that struck at me as I dodged and leaped away in chattering flight; the wild dogs that hunted me across the open spaces to the timber -- these were terrors concrete and actual, happenings and not imaginings, things of the living flesh and of sweat and blood.

    CHAPTER I 2010

  • Birds were chattering from the eaves, and she could hear the clip of the swallows 'beaks as they caught the last insects of the day.

    Excerpt: Grass For His Pillow by Lian Hearn 2003

  • The monkey mind has been too too prominant and after so long off, it's chattering is drowned out by the need to GET ON WITH IT!

    *whew* 2001

  • Trembling with fear and distrust of the palefaces, my teeth chattering from the chilly ride, I crept noiselessly in my soft moccasins along the narrow hall, keeping very close to the bare wall.

    American Indian Stories 1921

  • The fall through leafy branches and the dizzy heights; the snakes that struck at me as I dodged and leaped away in chattering flight; the wild dogs that hunted me across the open spaces to the timber -- these were terrors concrete and actual, happenings and not imaginings, things of the living flesh and of sweat and blood.

    Chapter I 1906

  • Such a charivari as ensued, for just as my tugs at the alarm-bell began to take effect, the clock struck twelve, and the waits set up outside my window in quavering tones, with their teeth chattering from the cold, an old-fashioned lilt.

    A Christmas Cake in Four Quarters Mary Anne 1871

  • There's an easy way to stop your wipers 'chattering' - but do it with care

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed 2010

  • There's an easy way to stop your wipers 'chattering' - but do it with care

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed Rob MacGregor 2010

  • The response seemed to be generally positive from the online community, but the idea of chattering newspapers frightens me.

    Talking newspapers invade Indian breakfast tables 2010

  • This he sums up as a simple question: "what is behind the opinions and attitudes of what are called the chattering classes?"

    Archive 2007-07-01 Richard 2007

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