Chat \Chat\, n.
   1. A twig, cone, or little branch. See Chit.
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   2. pl. (Mining) Small stones with ore.
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   Chat potatoes, small potatoes, such as are given to swine.
      [Local.]
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	Chat \Chat\ (ch[a^]t), 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.
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         To chat a while on their adventures.     --Dryden.

   Syn: To talk; chatter; gossip; converse.
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	Chat \Chat\, v. t.
   To talk of. [Obs.]
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	Chat \Chat\, n.
   1. Light, familiar talk; conversation; gossip.
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            Snuff, or fan, supply each pause of chat,
            With singing, laughing, ogling, and all that.
                                                  --Pope.
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   2. (Zool.) A bird of the genus Icteria, allied to the
      warblers, in America. The best known species are the
      yellow-breasted chat (Icteria viridis), and the
      long-tailed chat (Icteria longicauda). In Europe the
      name is given to several birds of the family
      Saxicolid[ae], as the stonechat, and whinchat.
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   Bush chat. (Zool.) See under Bush.
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	chat
     n 1: an informal conversation [syn: confab, confabulation, schmooze,
           schmoose]
     2: birds having a chattering call [syn: New World chat]
     3: songbirds having a chattering call [syn: Old World chat]
     v : talk socially without exchanging too much information; "the
         men were sitting in the cafe and shooting the breeze"
         [syn: chew the fat, shoot the breeze, confabulate,
         confab, chitchat, chatter, chaffer, natter, gossip,
          jaw, claver, visit]
     [also: chatting, chatted]

	

	111 Moby Thesaurus words for "chat":
   babble, babblement, bavardage, be closeted with, bibble-babble,
   blab, blabber, blah-blah, blather, blether, blethers, bull session,
   bullshit, burble, cackle, caquet, caqueterie, causerie, chatter,
   chew the fat, chin, chitter-chatter, clack, clatter, colloque,
   colloquy, compare, confab, confabulate, confabulation,
   conversation, converse, coze, cozy chat, dialogue, dish, dither,
   entice, flirt with, friendly chat, gab, gabble, gam, gas, gibber,
   gibble-gabble, go on, gossip, guff, gush, haver, heart-to-heart,
   heart-to-heart talk, hot air, idle talk, induce, inveigle, jabber,
   jaw, lallygag, little talk, lure, make conversation, mere talk,
   natter, nonsense talk, palaver, parley, patter, persuade,
   pour forth, prate, prating, prattle, prevail upon, prittle-prattle,
   proposition, prose, ramble on, rap, rap session, rattle, rattle on,
   reel off, run on, seduce, shoot the breeze, small talk, smatter,
   spout, spout off, talk, talk away, talk nonsense, talk on,
   talkee-talkee, tempt, tete-a-tete, tinkle, tittle-tattle, twaddle,
   twattle, twiddle, twitter, visit, waffle, yak, yakkety-yak, yammer,
   yap, yarn

	

	chat
     
         Any system that allows any
        number of logged-in users to have a typed, real-time, on-line
        conversation, either by all users logging into the same
        computer, or more commonly nowadays, 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 well known chat systems to date (1998) include IRC,
        ICQ and Palace.
     
        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., re, BCNU, BBL, BTW, CUL,
        FWIW, FYA, FYI, IMHO, OTT, TNX, WRT, WTF,
        WTH, , , BBL, HHOK, NHOH, ROTFL, AFK,
        b4, TTFN, TTYL, OIC, re.
     
        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 jargan 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; specifically, MUD
        respondents report use of BBL, BRB, LOL, b4, BTW,
        WTF, TTFN, and WTH.  The use of "re" or "rehi" is also
        common; in fact, MUDders are fond of "re-" compounds and will
        frequently "rehug" or "rebonk" (see bonk/oif) people.  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"
        (http://www.suck.com/daily/96/10/23/).
     
        (1998-01-25)