prate

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Related to prate: babble, voluble

prate

(prāt)

intr.v. prat·ed, prat·ing, prates

To talk idly and at length; chatter: "Your eccentric fools who prate about method without understanding it" (Edgar Allan Poe).

[Middle English praten, from Middle Dutch prāten.]

prat′er n.

prat′ing·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

prate

(preɪt)

1. (intr) to talk idly and at length; chatter

2. (tr) to utter in an idle or empty way

idle or trivial talk; prattle; chatter

[C15: of Germanic origin; compare Middle Dutch prāten, Icelandic and Norwegian prata, Danish prate]

ˈprater n

ˈpratingly adv

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

prate

(preɪt)

v. prat•ed, prat•ing,
n. v.i.

1. to talk excessively and pointlessly; babble.

v.t.

2. to utter in empty or foolish talk.

3. the act of prating.

4. empty or foolish talk.

[1375–1425; late Middle English < Middle Dutch praeten. compare prattle]

prat′er, n.

prat′ing•ly, adv.

prate

Past participle: prated
Gerund: prating

Imperative
prate
prate

Present
I prate
you prate
he/she/it prates
we prate
you prate
they prate

Preterite
I prated
you prated
he/she/it prated
we prated
you prated
they prated

Present Continuous
I am prating
you are prating
he/she/it is prating
we are prating
you are prating
they are prating

Present Perfect
I have prated
you have prated
he/she/it has prated
we have prated
you have prated
they have prated

Past Continuous
I was prating
you were prating
he/she/it was prating
we were prating
you were prating
they were prating

Past Perfect
I had prated
you had prated
he/she/it had prated
we had prated
you had prated
they had prated

Future
I will prate
you will prate
he/she/it will prate
we will prate
you will prate
they will prate

Future Perfect
I will have prated
you will have prated
he/she/it will have prated
we will have prated
you will have prated
they will have prated

Future Continuous
I will be prating
you will be prating
he/she/it will be prating
we will be prating
you will be prating
they will be prating

Present Perfect Continuous
I have been prating
you have been prating
he/she/it has been prating
we have been prating
you have been prating
they have been prating

Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been prating
you will have been prating
he/she/it will have been prating
we will have been prating
you will have been prating
they will have been prating

Past Perfect Continuous
I had been prating
you had been prating
he/she/it had been prating
we had been prating
you had been prating
they had been prating

Conditional
I would prate
you would prate
he/she/it would prate
we would prate
you would prate
they would prate

Past Conditional
I would have prated
you would have prated
he/she/it would have prated
we would have prated
you would have prated
they would have prated

Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	prate - idle or foolish and irrelevant talk blether, chin music, idle talk, prattle chatter, yack, yak, yakety-yak, cackle - noisy talk
Verb	1.	prate - speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly blabber, palaver, piffle, prattle, tattle, tittle-tattle, twaddle, gabble, gibber, blab, clack, maunder, chatter mouth, speak, talk, verbalise, verbalize, utter - express in speech; "She talks a lot of nonsense"; "This depressed patient does not verbalize" blather, blether, blither, smatter, babble - to talk foolishly; "The two women babbled and crooned at the baby"

prate

verb

1. To talk rapidly, incoherently, or indistinctly:

babble, blather, chatter, gabble, gibber, jabber, prattle.

2. To talk volubly, persistently, and usually inconsequentially:

babble, blabber, chatter, chitchat, clack, jabber, palaver, prattle, rattle (on), run on.

Informal: go on, spiel.

Slang: gab, gas, jaw, yak.

Idioms: run off at the mouth, shoot the breeze.

noun

1. Unintelligible or foolish talk:

babble, blather, blatherskite, double talk, gabble, gibberish, jabber, jabberwocky, jargon, nonsense, prattle, twaddle.

2. Incessant and usually inconsequential talk:

babble, blab, blabber, chat, chatter, chitchat, jabber, palaver, prattle, small talk.

Slang: gab, gas, yak.

Translations

bavarder

praten

prate

(o.f.) [preɪt] VI → parlotear, charlar
to prate about → hablar sin tasa de

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

prate

vi → faseln, schwafeln

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

prate

[preɪt] vi → cicalare
to prate on about sth → parlare a più non posso di qc

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References in classic literature ?

All periods prate against one another in your spirits; and the dreams and pratings of all periods were even realer than your awakeness!

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said Bildad, lifting his eyes and hands, thou thyself, as I myself, hast seen many a perilous time; thou knowest, Peleg, what it is to have the fear of death; how, then, can'st thou prate in this ungodly guise.

View in context

"You soldiers all prate of the interests of civilisation.

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And then he strewed the table with the nuggets, stuffed ptarmigans, bead work and seal pelts of the returned Kiondiker, and began to prate to us of his millions.

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"That, Sancho, thou art not," said Don Quixote; "for not only art thou not sage silence, but thou art pestilent prate and perversity; still I would like to know what three proverbs have just now come into thy memory, for I have been turning over mine own- and it is a good one- and none occurs to me."

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With their damned prate and civilities, and doing the honour of their nation to strangers (as they are pleased to call it), but indeed setting forth their own vanity; they are so troublesome, that I had infinitely rather pass my life with the Hottentots than set my foot in Paris again.

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"My lady, when our liege lord, the king, at three score years, and my Lord Chandos at three-score and ten, are blithe and ready to lay lance in rest for England's cause, it would ill be-seem me to prate of service done.

But, my soul's bird, you hear me prate as though all were decided, when I have not yet taken counsel either with you or with my lady mother.

View in context

THE "big dig" is one of the biggest mess ups that the people of Liverpool have had to put up with Those who draw fat salaries from the citizens to look after their affairs can prate as much as they like that "in the end it will all be worth it".

Rex Makin: Is big dig worth the misery; The law man Makin his point every Friday in the Liverpool ECHO

"It's perceived as, you put it on a prate with a white doily and a cherry in the middle at your grandma's house," says Dan Richey, whose family has been growing grapefruit for 100 years.

Hip grapefruit?

He had to dig deep for rider Neil Harris to see off outsider Prate Box up the home straight, but had six lengths in hand where it mattered.

Uttoxeter: Earthmover warms up for Cup date in style

My dancing-greens have ta'en away; Let preachers prate till they grow wood,

Mayday, mayday, our maypole has gone missing

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