Etymology

shoot the breeze

Today it means: To chat idly or generally waste time talking. Full definition →

Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

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.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.