Meanings
present singular third person shoots the breeze · participle present shooting the breeze · participle past shot the breeze · past shot the breeze
- USidiomaticslangTo chat idly or generally waste time talking.
We were just standing around shooting the breeze.
2 more examples
Oh, I've just been upstairs with your boss, shooting the breeze… shooting his fish.
1989, Lethal Weapon 2 (motion picture), spoken by Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson)Listen, I came here to do some business, not shoot the breeze. If you want to expound your personal philosophies, write another book.
1999, The Ninth Gate (motion picture), spoken by Dean Corso (Johnny Depp)Synonyms: bat the breeze, chew the fat, shoot the shit, shoot the bull, talk about the weather
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
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.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan moure xerra, parlotejar
- moure xerrato chat idly or waste time talking
- parlotejarto chat idly or waste time talking
Dutch kletsen, babbelen
- kletsento chat idly or waste time talking
- babbelento chat idly or waste time talking
Finnish rupatella, lörpötellä
- rupatellato chat idly or waste time talking
- lörpötelläto chat idly or waste time talking
French tailler une bavette, tailler le bout de gras
- tailler une bavetteto chat idly or waste time talking
- tailler le bout de grasto chat idly or waste time talking
- taper la causetteto chat idly or waste time talking
- taper la discuteto chat idly or waste time talking
German ein Schwätzchen halten
- ein Schwätzchen haltento chat idly or waste time talking
Italian chiacchierare
- chiacchierareto chat idly or waste time talking
Japanese 駄弁る, 喋る
- 駄弁る (daberu)to chat idly or waste time talking
- 喋る (shaberu)to chat idly or waste time talking
Polish gadać
- gadaćto chat idly or waste time talking
Russian чеса́ть языко́м
- чеса́ть языко́м (česátʹ jazykóm)to chat idly or waste time talking
Spanish pegar la hebra, darle a la sinhueso
- pegar la hebrato chat idly or waste time talking
- darle a la sinhuesoto chat idly or waste time talking
Swedish surra, tugga
- surrato chat idly or waste time talking
- tuggato chat idly or waste time talking
Turkish iki lafın belini kırmak
- iki lafın belini kırmakto chat idly or waste time talking
Vietnamese buôn dưa lê, chém gió
- buôn dưa lêto chat idly or waste time talking
- chém gióto chat idly or waste time talking
Welsh dal pen rheswm
- dal pen rheswmto chat idly or waste time talking
Cite this entry
shoot the breeze. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shoot%20the%20breeze
“shoot the breeze.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shoot%20the%20breeze. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shoot the breeze,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shoot%20the%20breeze.
Source: shoot the breeze on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.