Definition of "chat" in English

verb

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 more than a few words.

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

3. (transitive) To talk of; to discuss.

   • They chatted politics for a while.

4. (informal, slang, often 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?

noun

1. (countable, uncountable) Informal conversation.

   • It'd be cool to meet up again soon and have a quick chat.

2. (countable, uncountable) 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, uncountable, 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."

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

5. (countable) Any of several small Australian honeyeaters in the genus Epthianura.

noun

1. A small potato, such as is given to swine.

noun

1. (mining, local use) Mining waste from lead and zinc mines.

noun

1. (British, Australia, New Zealand, World War I military 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.'

noun

1. Alternative form of chaat.