Meanings
present singular third person chews the fat · participle present chewing the fat · participle past chewed the fat · past chewed the fat
- informalTo chat idly or generally waste time talking.
We're not supposed to waste time chewing the fat with the customers.
Synonyms: chew the rag, shoot the breeze, shoot the shit, shoot the bull, throw the bull
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo chat idly or generally waste time talking.
More synonyms by meaning
verbtalk socially without exchanging too much information
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
One of the possible origins is from the fact that after a meal people would go into their sitting room with their guests and chit chat while chewing on the fat left over from a meal. Another possibility comes from sailors who often had salted beef and pork on long voyages and the fat would harden. Sailors would eat and complain about the hard life of the sea while "chewing the fat" Probably just from comparison of the jaw movements in chewing to the jaw movements in talking.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
chew the fat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chew%20the%20fat
“chew the fat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chew%20the%20fat. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “chew the fat,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chew%20the%20fat.
Source: chew the fat on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.