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Audio Help [chat] Pronunciation Key verb, chat·ted, chat·ting, noun | 1. | to converse in a familiar or informal manner. |
| 2. | informal conversation: We had a pleasant chat. |
| 3. | any of several small Old World thrushes, esp. of the genus Saxicola, having a chattering cry. |
| 4. | yellow-breasted chat. |
| 5. | chat up, Chiefly British.
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—Related forms
| Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006. |
chat
To learn more about chat visit Britannica.com
| © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |
| (esp. in Bordeaux wines) Château. |
| Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006. |
| chat
Audio Help (chāt) Pronunciation Key
intr.v. chat·ted, chat·ting, chats
n.
Phrasal Verb(s): chat up To engage (someone) in light, casual talk: "He would be . . . chatting up folks from Kansas" (Vanity Fair). [Middle English chatten, to jabber, alteration of chateren; see chatter.] |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
chat
| Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper |
| chat | |
noun | |
| 1. | an informal conversation |
| 2. | birds having a chattering call [syn: New World chat] |
| 3. | songbirds having a chattering call [syn: Old World chat] |
verb | |
| 1. | talk socially without exchanging too much information; "the men were sitting in the cafe and shooting the breeze" |
| WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University. |
chat [tʃӕt] verb — past tense, past participle ˈchatted
Example: They chatted about the weather.
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Example: a chat over coffee; women's chat
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| Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary, © 2000-2006 K Dictionaries Ltd. |
chat chat, messaging
Any system that allows any number of logged-in users to have a typed, real-time, on-line conversation via a network.
The medium of chat is descended from talk, but the terms (and the media) have been distinct since at least the early 1990s. talk is prototypically for a small number of people, generally with no provision for channels. In chat systems, however, there are many channels in which any number of people can talk; and users may send private (one-to-one) messages.
Some early chat systems (in use 1998) include IRC, ICQ and Palace. More recent alternatives include MSN Messenger and Google Talk.
Chat systems have given rise to a distinctive style combining the immediacy of talking with all the precision (and verbosity) that written language entails. It is difficult to communicate inflection, though conventions have arisen to help with this.
The conventions of chat systems include special items of jargon, generally abbreviations meant to save typing, which are not used orally. E.g. BCNU, BBL, BTW, CUL, FWIW, FYA, FYI, IMHO, OT, OTT, TNX, WRT, WTF, WTH,
Much of the chat style is identical to (and probably derived from) Morse code jargon used by ham-radio amateurs since the 1920s, and there is, not surprisingly, some overlap with TDD jargon. Most of the jargon was in use in talk systems. Many of these expressions are also common in Usenet news and electronic mail and some have seeped into popular culture, as with emoticons.
The MUD community uses a mixture of emoticons, a few of the more natural of the old-style talk mode abbreviations, and some of the "social" list above. In general, though, MUDders express a preference for typing things out in full rather than using abbreviations; this may be due to the relative youth of the MUD cultures, which tend to include many touch typists. Abbreviations specific to MUDs include: FOAD, ppl (people), THX (thanks), UOK? (are you OK?).
Some BIFFisms (notably the variant spelling "d00d") and aspects of ASCIIbonics appear to be passing into wider use among some subgroups of MUDders and are already pandemic on chat systems in general.
See also hakspek.
Suck article "Screaming in a Vacuum".
(2006-05-31)
| The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe |
Chat
Chat\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Chatted; p. pr. & vb. n. Chatting.] [From Chatter. [root]22.] To talk in a light and familiar manner; to converse without form or ceremony; to gossip. --Shak. To chat a while on their adventures. --Dryden. Syn: To talk; chatter; gossip; converse.| Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. |
Chat
Chat\, v. t. To talk of. [Obs.]| Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. |
Chat
Chat\, n. 1. Light, familiar talk; conversation; gossip. Snuff, or fan, supply each pause of chat, With singing, laughing, ogling, and all that. --Pope. 2. (Zo["o]l.) A bird of the genus Icteria, allied to the warblers, in America. The best known species are the yellow-breasted chat (I. viridis), and the long-tailed chat (I. longicauda). In Europe the name is given to several birds of the family Saxicolid[ae], as the stonechat, and whinchat. Bush chat. (Zo["o]l.) See under Bush.| Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. |
Chat
Chat\, n. 1. A twig, cone, or little branch. See Chit. 2. pl. (Mining) Small stones with ore. Chat potatoes, small potatoes, such as are given to swine. [Local.]| Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. |
CHAT
CHAT: in Acronym Finder
| Acronym Finder, © 1988-2007 Mountain Data Systems |
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