n. [ OF. chatel; another form of catel. See Cattle. ] (Law) Any item of movable or immovable property except the freehold, or the things which are parcel of it. It is a more extensive term than goods or effects. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Chattels are personal or real: personal are such as are movable, as goods, plate, money; real are such rights in land as are less than a freehold, as leases, mortgages, growing corn, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

Chattel mortgage (Law), a mortgage on personal property, as distinguished from one on real property. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act or condition of holding chattels; the state of being a chattel. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Chattered p. pr. & vb. n. Chattering. ] [ Of imitative origin. Cf. Chat, v. i. Chitter. ] 1. To utter sounds which somewhat resemble language, but are inarticulate and indistinct. [ 1913 Webster ]

The jaw makes answer, as the magpie chatters. Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To talk idly, carelessly, or with undue rapidity; to jabber; to prate. [ 1913 Webster ]

To tame a shrew, and charm her chattering tongue. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To make a noise by rapid collisions. [ 1913 Webster ]

With chattering teeth, and bristling hair upright. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To utter rapidly, idly, or indistinctly. [ 1913 Webster ]

Begin his witless note apace to chatter. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Sounds like those of a magpie or monkey; idle talk; rapid, thoughtless talk; jabber; prattle. [ 1913 Webster ]

Your words are but idle and empty chatter. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Noise made by collision of the teeth, as in shivering. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act or habit of chattering. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A prater; an idle talker. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) A bird of the family Ampelidæ -- so called from its monotonous note. The Bohemion chatterer (Ampelis garrulus) inhabits the arctic regions of both continents. In America the cedar bird is a more common species. See Bohemian chatterer, and Cedar bird. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act or habit of talking idly or rapidly, or of making inarticulate sounds; the sounds so made; noise made by the collision of the teeth; chatter. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (a) (Mach.) One of the fine undulations or ripples which are formed on the surface of work by a cutting tool which chatters. (b) (Geol.) A short crack on a rock surface planed smooth by a glacier. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. The quality of being chatty, or of talking easily and pleasantly. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Given to light, familiar talk; talkative. Lady M. W. Montagu. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖ n. [ Tamil shāti. ] A porous earthen pot used in India for cooling water, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

pres. & imp. sing. & pl. of Hote, to be called. See Hote. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

A full perilous place, purgatory it hatte. Piers Plowman. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Covered with a hat. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Prov. E., to entangle; cf. LG. verhaddern, verheddern, verhiddern. ] To tire or worry; -- with out. [ Obs. ] Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who makes or sells hats. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL. ] (Zool.) A New Zealand lizard, which, in anatomical character, differs widely from all other existing lizards. It is the only living representative of the order Rhynchocephala, of which many Mesozoic fossil species are known; -- called also Sphenodon, tuatara, and Tuatera. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The business of making hats; also, stuff for hats. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Turk., fr. Ar. khatt a writing + sherīf noble. ] A irrevocable Turkish decree countersigned by the sultan. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A hatstand. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. (U. S. History) A former US agency that was responsible for developing atomic bombs during World War II. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Shattered p. pr. & vb. n. Shattering. ] [ OE. schateren, scateren, to scatter, to dash, AS. scateran; cf. D. schateren to crack, to make a great noise, OD. schetteren to scatter, to burst, to crack. Cf. Scatter. ] 1. To break at once into many pieces; to dash, burst, or part violently into fragments; to rend into splinters; as, an explosion shatters a rock or a bomb; too much steam shatters a boiler; an oak is shattered by lightning. [ 1913 Webster ]

A monarchy was shattered to pieces, and divided amongst revolted subjects. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To disorder; to derange; to render unsound; as, to be shattered in intellect; his constitution was shattered; his hopes were shattered. [ 1913 Webster ]

A man of a loose, volatile, and shattered humor. Norris. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To scatter about. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To be broken into fragments; to fall or crumble to pieces by any force applied. [ 1913 Webster ]

Some fragile bodies break but where the force is; some shatter and fly in many places. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A fragment of anything shattered; -- used chiefly or soley in the phrase into shatters; as, to break a glass into shatters. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. Disordered or wandering in intellect; hence, heedless; wild; similar to scatter-brained. J. Goodman. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

a. Easily breaking into pieces; not compact; loose of texture; brittle; as, shattery spar. [ 1913 Webster ]