chat vs chatter

chat

noun
  • A chat room. 

  • A louse (small, parasitic insect). 

  • Any of various small Old World passerine birds in the muscicapid tribe Saxicolini or subfamily Saxicolinae that feed on insects. 

  • An exchange of text or voice messages in real time through a computer network, resembling a face-to-face conversation. 

  • A small potato, such as is given to swine. 

  • Mining waste from lead and zinc mines. 

  • Informal conversation. 

  • The entirety of users in a chat room or a single member thereof. 

  • Any of several small Australian honeyeaters in the genus Epthianura. 

  • A conversation to stop an argument or settle a situation. 

verb
  • To talk more than a few words. 

  • To talk of; to discuss. 

  • To be engaged in informal conversation. 

  • To exchange text or voice messages in real time through a computer network, as if having a face-to-face conversation. 

chatter

noun
  • A user of chat rooms. 

  • The vocalisations of a Eurasian magpie, Pica pica. 

  • One who chats. 

  • The sound of talking. 

  • The vocalisations of various birds or other animals. 

  • The situation where a drill or similar tool vibrates and tears the material rather than cutting it cleanly. 

  • An intermittent noise, as from vibration. 

  • In national security, the degree of communication between suspect groups and individuals, used to gauge the degree of expected terrorist activity. 

  • Talk, especially meaningless or unimportant talk. 

verb
  • To talk idly. 

  • To make a noise by rapid collisions. 

  • To utter sounds which somewhat resemble language, but are inarticulate and indistinct. 

How often have the words chat and chatter occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )