shoot the breeze
verb
Forms shoots the breeze shooting the breeze shot the breeze
- verb (slang, idiomatic, US) To chat idly or generally waste time talking. “We were just standing around shooting the breeze.”
Synonyms
bat the breeze chew the fat shoot the shit shoot the bull talk about the weather chat confabulate confab chitchat chit-chat chatter chaffer natter gossip jaw claver visit
Etymology
A slang phrase, alluding to talking into the wind, and first recorded in 1919. In the variant, first recorded in 1908, the word bull is used instead of breeze, and means empty talk or lies.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “shoot the breeze”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details