Pronounced: duh-ree-GURR, adj
Notes: The phrase is familiar to me, but I didn’t know the meaning
Yesterday’s word
The word chin-wag means “conversation; chat”
First usage
Our word came into English in the late 1800s
Background / Comments
Our word is an informal British word (perhaps slang): I don’t believe I’ve heard or read it in America. I did read it in the Dorothy Sayers Lord Peter Wimsey books, which were written between the first and second World War. I thought that the word was obsolete, but then – rather to my surprise – I was watching a British show in which the presenter used our word. Thus, it is apparently still in use (although I’ve not heard it used anytime I was staying in Yorkshire). Similar words and phrases are “chinfest” (chat), “chin music” (idle talk; chatter), and “chin” (as either a verb [to chat] or a noun [a chat]).
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 