Chattered

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Spoke quickly and at length, often nervously or excitedly ; produced a rapid series of clicking or rattling noises, like teeth or small objects making sounds together
2. Talked in a fast, lively manner, usually without pause ; emitted quick, sharp sounds that resemble light rattling
3. Engaged in continuous, hurried talking, sometimes meaninglessly ; created rapid mechanical or natural sounds that involve quick, repeated impacts or movements

Etymology: Chattered is simply the past tense of "chatter," so the story belongs to the verb itself. "Chatter" comes from Middle English "chateren" or "cheteren," meaning to twitter, chatter, or jabber, and it is imitative in origin: the word's sound mimics the rapid, repetitive noise it describes. Its relatives across the Germanic languages carry the same sense of quick, babbling sound, including Dutch "schateren," German Low German "queteln," and Danish "kvidre," which means to twitter or chirp, as birds do. The word's sound-based origin explains why it was first applied to birds and only later to people. A chattering magpie or a chattering teeth-rattle came before a chattering human, and the figurative sense of rapid, idle talk developed from that original noise. The word "chat" is a separate, related formation from the same family of sounds, and "chatter" was built from it with the suffix "-er," which marks a repeated or continuing action.

Synonyms: jabbered, prattled, gabbled, chit-chatted, talked

Antonyms: listened, silenced, quieted