chatting

Pluralchattings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of chat.

   The two neighbors stood chatting by the fence for nearly an hour.

   Chatting online with strangers can sometimes lead to trouble.

   Note

   The -ing form does two jobs. After be it builds the progressive (they were chatting by the fence), and on its own it works as a noun (chatting online can lead to trouble). Note the doubled t. Everything chat covers carries over: real-time messaging, the rarer transitive use meaning to talk of something, and the slang chatting shit, for talking nonsense or lying.

2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   Casual conversation; the light, informal talk and chatter people exchange in passing.

   The library frowns on loud chatting near the study desks.

   Endless chatting filled the café throughout the afternoon.

   Similarchatter, talk, conversation

   Note

   Talk can be counted in bouts as well as poured out as a stream. Isaac Barrow, writing before 1678, condemns "the impertinent chattings" alongside rash censures and spiteful detractions, and the plural turns idle talk into a list of faults. As a true noun it takes adjectives (loud chatting, impertinent chattings). That is the easiest way to tell it from the verb's gerund, which takes adverbs (chatting online).

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