I. chat 1 S2 /tʃæt/ BrE AmE noun [uncountable and countable]
especially British English an informal friendly conversation
chat with
I’ve had a long chat with Vinnie.
chat about
a chat about the weather
She was enjoying their friendly little chat.
She used to drop in for a chat quite often.
⇨ ↑ backchat
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ have a chat
We were just having a chat.
▪ call in/round for a chat
Are you free later if I call in for a chat?
▪ meet up for a chat
Sometimes we go to the cinema or just meet up for a chat.
▪ enjoy a chat
Most people enjoy a good chat.
■ adjectives
▪ a little chat
Why don’t you call her and have a little chat.
▪ a brief chat formal
My manager said he wanted to have a brief chat with me.
▪ a bit of a chat spoken BrE:
Perhaps I could have a bit of a chat with him.
▪ a long chat
We sat down and had a long chat.
▪ a friendly chat
New students sometimes just need to have a friendly chat with someone.
▪ a cosy chat (=a relaxed and usually private one)
I made some coffee and we had a cosy chat.
▪ an informal chat
Come and see me any time if you want an informal chat about jobs.
▪ a private/confidential chat
Have a confidential chat with the school nurse.
▪ a quiet chat (=one that other people will not interrupt.)
Let’s go and have a quiet chat over lunch.
▪ an online chat (=one had with someone over the internet)
With MSN you can have an online chat with your friends.
II. chat 2 BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle chatted , present participle chatting ) [intransitive]
[ Date: 1400-1500 ; Origin: chatter ]
1 . ( also chat away ) especially British English to talk in a friendly informal way, especially about things that are not important:
John and I sat up until the early hours chatting.
chat with/to
Mary was there, chatting to her mother.
chat about
Susie chatted away about her social life.
2 . to communicate with several people in a chat room on the Internet
chat somebody ↔ up phrasal verb
British English informal to talk to someone in a way that shows you are sexually attracted to them:
I spent the evening chatting up Liz.