| 释义 |
▪ I. natter, v.|ˈnætə(r)|
[var. of gnatter v.]
1. a. intr. To grumble; to fret. dial.
1866E. Peacock Notes to Myrc 73 She is always a nattering.
b. To chatter, to chat (in an aimless manner). Also with about, away, of, on. (Now the usual sense.) colloq.
1943Hunt & Pringle Service Slang 47 Natter, to chide or chatter in an irritatingly aimless fashion. 1949M. Allingham More Work for Undertaker xxvii. 310 The shares Campion keeps nattering about. 1952J. Cannan Body in Beck i. 9 No human voices..nattering of sodomy and of being bumped by Cat's. 1954C. P. Snow New Men 213 You're saying we ought to find a bogus reason for putting him in the street—just because some old women might natter. 1958Sunday Times 26 Jan. 17/3 They..nattered away for an hour about nothing. 1959C. MacInnes Absolute Beginners 74 She nattered on. I gave up. ‘Well—you win,’ I told her. 1972R. Maugham Escape from Shadows iv. 169 Seeing me look like a village idiot when he nattered away at me in Arabic. 1973Times 12 Nov. 10/6 Women who..natter about discrimination.
2. To gnaw, to nag. dial.
1871E. Peacock Ralf Skirl. II. 48 It can't hurt me..let alone a bit o' natterin' pain. 1946J. B. Priestley Bright Day ix. 274 If you've got summat in you that wants to be let out an' goes on natterin' at you day an' night, then you let go of everything else an' get it out.
So ˈnattered ppl. a., peevish, complaining; hence ˈnatteredness; ˈnatterer1; nattering vbl. n. and ppl. a.; ˈnattery a. = nattered ppl. a.
1825J. T. Brockett Gloss. North Country Words 146 Nattry, ill natured, petulant. ‘Nattry faced.’ 1829Brockett N.C. Gloss. (ed. 2), Natter, to scold, to speak in a querulous or peevish manner. 1853Mrs. Gaskell Ruth xxix, She believed she grew more ‘nattered’ as she grew older; but that she was conscious of her ‘natteredness’ was a new thing. 1859Geo. Eliot A. Bede i. iv, Lisbeth, whose motherly feeling now got the better of her ‘nattering’ habit. 1873J. Standing Echoes Lancs. Vale 17 One o' thoose nattery owd maids 'at con olez tell so mitch better heaw to bring a family o' childer op nor thoose 'at have 'em. 1900Eng. Dict. Dial. II. 657/2 s.v. Gnatter, Lin[colnshire]. Eh! Miss, she is such a natterer; she is always nattering about. 1923Sunday At Home Mar. 335/2, I 'ate them skinny owd women—always bad tempered and nattery that kind is. 1937M. Allingham Dancers in Mourning xvii. 217 Her energy, her constant nattering at one. 1942Tee Emm (Air Ministry) II. 64 Your C.O. tears you off a strip for nattering too much over the R/T. 1949H. Pakington Young W. Washbourne 36 It was no longer a dear old pouch, but a nattering, irritating little pouch that twanged upon the strings of his conscience. 1953E. Simon Past Masters ii. vi. 116 I'm sick and tired of all this lily-livered nattering..behind closed doors. 1956‘N. Shute’ Beyond Black Stump vii. 207 To kill the nattering of hope that lingered on. 1959H. Hobson Mission House Murder xviii. 116 ‘Did this girl talk?’ ‘Not much..she wasn't one of the natterers.’ 1959G. Mitchell Man who grew Tomatoes i. 23 Do you hold your tongue, now. Like a nattering old mawther, you are! 1966J. Wainwright Crystallised Carbon Pig x. 47, I was nattery and on edge.
▪ II. ˈnatter, n.
[f. the vb.]
Grumbling, nagging talk; (now esp.) aimless chatter; a chat, a talk.
1866W. Gregor Dial. Banffshire 119 Nyatter, peevish chattering, grumbling. 1943Hunt & Pringle Service Slang 47 Natter party, a Conference which leads nowhere. 1945Partridge Dict. R.A.F. Slang 40 Natter can, a person—especially a ‘Waaf’—prone to talk too much. 1947Forum (Johannesburg) X. i. 23/2 So it is that words like ‘interdenominisationalism’ and ‘polyphiloprogenitive’, with which we are wont to sprinkle our normal natter, sound like the mouthings of the village idiot. 1951News Chron. 8 Nov. 6/1 From the swarm he singled out one bird... ‘That's Joey,..he usually comes for a natter when there's nothing else doing.’ 1955‘N. Shute’ Requiem for Wren iii. 57 I've got a natter on with the Americans tomorrow evening. 1959G. Freeman Jack would be Gent. v. 94 I'd give anythin' to 'ave a natter with some of them blokes. 1966‘L. Lane’ ABZ of Scouse 74 Owd natterbag, a scolding woman. 1967N. Freeling Strike Out 28 The natter of silly women. 1974E. Lemarchand Buried in Past vi. 102 We wanted a natter with you... You can fill us in as nobody else can. |