jaw-jaw

present singular third person jaw-jaws · participle present jaw-jawing · participle past jaw-jawed · past jaw-jawed

1. slangTo talk at length; to chatter or jabber.

   We might have five of us jaw-jawing. You don't have that any more. I hate to lose that; it was a great joy in my life.

   1995, Lorraine Garkovich, Janet L Bokemeier, Barbara Foote, Harvest of hope: family farming/farming families

   2 more examples

   The EEC and America jaw-jawed their way to the brink of an all-out war over limiting European steel exports to the United States.

   1982, Economist, volume 285

   ...in certain contexts extensive and prolonged jaw-jawing — in the form of treaty-making — can serve to inhibit the resort to war.

   1986, David Sanders, Lawmaking and co-operation in international politics

1. slanguncountableChatter; worthless talk.

   attributed to Winston Churchill Jaw-jaw is better than war-war.

   1 more example

   After all that jaw-jaw, Shcharansky is currently in an extremely cramped jail cell […]

   1986, George F. Will, The Morning After: American Successes and Excesses, 1981-1986, page 323