Other forms: natters, nattering
To natter is to chat idly and at length. Nothing important, and an hour gone.
It is a warm British word and it belongs to kitchens, garden fences and phone calls that were meant to take two minutes. It takes on or away. As a noun a natter is the conversation itself, so having a good natter is a small pleasure. Chinwag, gossip and chat are its close neighbours, and gossip is the only one of them with any malice in it.
From a Northern England dialectal variant of gnatter (also knatter) "to chatter, grumble; nibble away at", ultimately of imitative of the sound origin. Cognate with German Low German gnattern (“to mumble, grumble, be grouchy”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Man Called Ove, A Song of Ice and Fire
First appears in chapter 25 of A Man Called Ove.
Practise this word