2 VERB When people chat , they exchange short written messages on the internet or on their phones. □ [V ] The software allows students to collaborate on documents and to chat via instant messaging. □ [V + to/with ] Kirstie was chatting with friends on a website. ● N‑COUNT Chat is also a noun. □ The author took part in a live web chat.
▸ chat up PHRASAL VERB If you chat someone up , usually someone you do not know very well, you talk to them in a friendly way because you are sexually attracted to them. [BRIT , INFORMAL ] □ [V P n] He'd spent most of that evening chatting up one of my friends. □ [V n P ] She was chatting one of the guys up. COLLOCATIONS chat VERB 1
chat + adverb : animatedly, excitedly, happily, merrily; amiably NOUN 1
adjective + chat : cosy, friendly, informal; heart-to-heart, one-to-one, private; brief
châ|teau /ʃæ toʊ/ (châteaux /ʃæ toʊz/) also chateau N‑COUNT A château is a large country house or castle in France.
chat|elaine /ʃæ təle I n/ (chatelaines ) N‑COUNT A chatelaine is the female owner, or the wife of the owner, of a castle or large country house.
chat|line /tʃæ tla I n/ (chatlines ) also chat line N‑COUNT People phone in to chatlines to have conversations with other people who have also phoned in. [BRIT ] □ She started using chat lines basically for someone to talk to.
cha t room (chat rooms ) N‑COUNT A chat room is a site on the internet where people can exchange messages about a particular subject. [COMPUTING ]
cha t show (chat shows ) N‑COUNT A chat show is a television or radio show in which people talk in a friendly, informal way about different topics. [BRIT ] in AM, use talk show
chat|tel /tʃæ t ə l/ (chattels ) N‑VAR Chattels are things that belong to you. [OLD-FASHIONED ] □ They were slaves, to be bought and sold as chattels.
chat|ter /tʃæ tə r / (chatters , chattering , chattered )
1 VERB If you chatter , you talk quickly and continuously, usually about things which are not important. □ [V adv/prep] Everyone's chattering away in different languages. □ [V + about ] Erica was friendly and chattered about Andrew's children. □ [V -ing] He listened to chattering maids as they passed by. [Also V ] ● N‑UNCOUNT Chatter is also a noun. □ …idle chatter. □ Lila kept up a steady stream of chatter.
2 VERB If your teeth chatter , they keep knocking together because you are very cold or very nervous. □ [V ] She was so cold her teeth chattered.
3 VERB When birds or animals chatter , they make high-pitched noises. [LITERARY ] □ [V ] Birds were chattering somewhere. ● N‑UNCOUNT Chatter is also a noun. □ [+ of ] …almond trees vibrating with the chatter of crickets.
chatter|box /tʃæ tə r bɒks/ (chatterboxes ) N‑COUNT A chatterbox is someone who talks a lot. [INFORMAL ]
cha t|ter|ing clas|ses N‑PLURAL The chattering classes are people such as journalists, broadcasters, or public figures who comment on events but have little or no influence over them. [BRIT , JOURNALISM , DISAPPROVAL ] □ Radical feminism is currently the fashionable topic among the chattering classes.
chat|ty /tʃæ ti/
1 ADJ Someone who is chatty talks a lot in a friendly, informal way. □ She's quite a chatty person.
2 ADJ A chatty style of writing or talking is friendly and informal. □ … a long, chatty e-mail from a colleague.
cha t-up line (chat-up lines ) N‑COUNT A chat-up line is a remark that someone makes in order to start a conversation with someone they do not know but find sexually attractive. [BRIT ] in AM, use line
chauf|feur /ʃoʊ fə r , ʃoʊfɜː r / (chauffeurs , chauffeuring , chauffeured )
1 N‑COUNT The chauffeur of a rich or important person is the man or woman who is employed to look after their car and drive them around in it.
2 VERB If you chauffeur someone somewhere, you drive them there in a car, usually as part of your job. □ [V n adv/prep] It was certainly useful to have her there to chauffeur him around. □ [V -ed] Caroline had a chauffeured car waiting to take her to London. [Also V n]
chau|vin|ism /ʃoʊ v I n I zəm/
1 N‑UNCOUNT Chauvinism is a strong, unreasonable belief that your own country is more important and morally better than other people's. [DISAPPROVAL ] □ [+ of ] It may also appeal to the latent chauvinism of many ordinary people. ● chau|vin|ist (chauvinists ) N‑COUNT □ They consider themselves patriots, but they are chauvinists and authoritarians.
2 → see also male chauvinism
3 → see also male chauvinist
chau|vin|is|tic /ʃoʊ v I n I st I k/
1 ADJ [usu ADJ n] If you describe someone as chauvinistic , you believe that they think their own country is more important and morally better than any other. [DISAPPROVAL ] □ …national narrow-mindedness and chauvinistic arrogance.
2 ADJ If you describe a man or his behaviour as chauvinistic , you disapprove of him for believing that men are naturally better and more important than women. [DISAPPROVAL ] □ My ex-boyfriend Anthony was very chauvinistic.
chav /tʃæ v/ (chavs ) N‑COUNT If you call someone a chav , you think that the way they look shows a lack of taste and education, although they may wear expensive clothes. [DISAPPROVAL ]