shoot the breeze
to have a chat
TRANSLATION
shoot the breeze = plaudern --- GOOGLE INDEX shoot the breeze: approximately 12,400,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
A mentor is someone you go to, you have a cup of coffee, you give them advice, you SHOOT THE BREEZE for a while and away you go.
(New York Times)
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Is watching a funny YouTube video any different than spending time at the company foosball or ping pong table, or standing around in the coffee break room SHOOTING THE BREEZE with colleagues?
(www.fastcompany.com)
(New York Times)
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Is watching a funny YouTube video any different than spending time at the company foosball or ping pong table, or standing around in the coffee break room SHOOTING THE BREEZE with colleagues?
(www.fastcompany.com)
Did you
know?
shoot the breeze
idiom
- to talk in a relaxed way about things that are not important
(Cambridge Idioms Dictionary)
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There are a couple of theories regarding the origin of the word "breeze." One suggestion is that it stems from the Spanish "briza," meaning a cold northeast wind. In the West Indies and Spanish Main, briza was used in the sense of shifting to a northeast trade wind and then simply a fresh wind from the sea. An alternative theory is the East Frisian "brisen," to blow fresh and strong.
Breeze, as in the sense of a rumour, appears to have entered the English language in the late 19th century. The meaning of idle chatter then surfaced in the early 20th century, after which it eventually found its way into the expression "shoot the breeze." Similar expressions are fan the breeze, shoot the bull (short for bullshit) and shoot the shit (again, short for bullshit).
Apart from the usual sense of a light wind, breeze is also used in a figurative sense to describe doing something quickly or casually. These situations are usually expressed using prepositional phrases:
- breeze along = to travel along casually, rapidly, and happily (I was breezing along the street when suddenly it started to rain)
- breeze away = to leave quickly and abruptly (She just breezed away and didn't say goodbye)
- breeze through = to complete a task quickly and easily (I breezed through the test)
- breeze in/into = to enter a place quickly and in a carefree manner (He breezed into the room just as the meeting began)
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SYNONYMS
chat, converse, chew the fat, gab, talk, jaw, have a chin wag, have a bull session, jabber, yak
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SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"If you're looking for Bill, he's shooting the breeze with someone in the coffee corner."
idiom
- to talk in a relaxed way about things that are not important
(Cambridge Idioms Dictionary)
---
There are a couple of theories regarding the origin of the word "breeze." One suggestion is that it stems from the Spanish "briza," meaning a cold northeast wind. In the West Indies and Spanish Main, briza was used in the sense of shifting to a northeast trade wind and then simply a fresh wind from the sea. An alternative theory is the East Frisian "brisen," to blow fresh and strong.
Breeze, as in the sense of a rumour, appears to have entered the English language in the late 19th century. The meaning of idle chatter then surfaced in the early 20th century, after which it eventually found its way into the expression "shoot the breeze." Similar expressions are fan the breeze, shoot the bull (short for bullshit) and shoot the shit (again, short for bullshit).
Apart from the usual sense of a light wind, breeze is also used in a figurative sense to describe doing something quickly or casually. These situations are usually expressed using prepositional phrases:
- breeze along = to travel along casually, rapidly, and happily (I was breezing along the street when suddenly it started to rain)
- breeze away = to leave quickly and abruptly (She just breezed away and didn't say goodbye)
- breeze through = to complete a task quickly and easily (I breezed through the test)
- breeze in/into = to enter a place quickly and in a carefree manner (He breezed into the room just as the meeting began)
---
SYNONYMS
chat, converse, chew the fat, gab, talk, jaw, have a chin wag, have a bull session, jabber, yak
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"If you're looking for Bill, he's shooting the breeze with someone in the coffee corner."
