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To talk in a light and familiar manner; to converse without form or ceremony; to gossip. Shak. To chat a while on their adventures. Dryden.

Given to light, familiar talk; talkative. Lady M. W. Montagu.

The flat, circuliar, mucilaginous fruit of the dwarf mallow (Malva rotundifolia). [Colloq.]

An order of reptiles, including the tortoises and turtles, perculiar in having a part of the vertebræ, ribs, and sternum united with the dermal plates so as to form a firm shell. The jaws are covered by a horny beak. See Reptilia; also, Illust. in Appendix.

A peculiar shade of red, like that of a cherry. Barbadoes cherry. See under Barbadoes. -- Cherry bird (Zoöl.), an American bird; the cedar bird; -- so called from its fondness for cherries. -- Cherry bounce, cherry brandy and sugar. -- Cherry brandy, brandy in which cherries have been steeped. -- Cherry laurel (Bot…

Of or pertaining to China; peculiar to China. Chinese paper. See India paper, under India. -- Chinese wax, a snowy-wgite, waxlike substance brought from China. It is the bleached secretion of certain insects of the family Coccidæ especially Coccus Sinensis.

Familiar or trifling talk; prattle.

ine, bromine, and iodine, called the halogens, and classed together from their common peculiariries.

A peculiar rounded granule of some mineral, usually enstatite or chrysolite, found imdedded more or less aboundantly in the mass of many meteoric stones, which are hence called chondrites.

Five English ports, to which peculiar privileges were anciently accorded; -- viz., Hastings, Romney, Hythe, Dover, and Sandwich; afterwards increased by the addition of Winchelsea, Rye, and some minor places. Baron of the Cinque Ports. See under Baron.

A lively dance (called also galliard), the steps of which were regulated by the number five. [Obs.] Nares. Shak.

Intimate; familiar; confidential. League with you I seek And mutual amity, so strait, so close, That I with you must dwell, or you with me. Milton.

One of the peculiar stinging, cells found in Coelenterata; a nematocyst; a lasso cell.

A singular or odd person; -- a familiar, humorous, or depreciatory appellation. [Colloq.] A few of us old codgers met at the fireside. Emerson.

under Blood, n., 8. -- Cold chill, an ague fit. Wright. -- Cold chisel, a chisel of peculiar strength and hardness, for cutting cold metal. Weale. -- Cold cream. See under Cream. -- Cold slaw. See Cole slaw. -- In cold blood, without excitement or passion; deliberately. He was slain in cold blood after thefight wa…

in common pursuits, or having common duties and interests, and sometimes, by charter, peculiar rights and privileges; as, a college of heralds; a college of electors; a college of bishops. The college of the cardinals. Shak. Then they made colleges of sufferers; persons who, to secure their inheritance in the world to…

Pertaining to, or used in, conversation, esp. common and familiar conversation; conversational; hence, unstudied; informal; as, colloquial intercourse; colloquial phrases; a colloquial style. -- Col*lo"qui*al*ly, adv. His [Johnson's] colloquial talents were, indeed, of the highest order. Macaulay.

To make colloquial and familiar; as, to colloquialize one's style of writing.

Free from any manifestation of partial or peculiar sentiment or feeling; not disclosing likes, dislikes, prejudice, etc.; as, colorless music; a colorless style; definitions should be colorless.

A peculiar East Indian mammal (Galleopithecus volans), having along the sides, connecting the fore and hind limbs, a parachutelike membrane, by means of which it is able to make long leaps, like the flying squirrel; -- called also flying lemur.