chunter, v.
(ˈtʃʌntə(r))
Also 6 chunner, 7 chounter, 9 chunder.
[App. of imitative formation.]
To mutter, murmur; to grumble, find fault, complain. Also in extended use.
| 1599 Broughton's Lett. x. 35 Your heyfer..must..wander alone and chunner out an Heathenish conceit of descending into the world of soules poetically. c 1690 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Chounter, to talk pertly, and (sometimes) angrily. 1788 Marshall Provinc. E. Yorksh. (E.D.S. Repr. Gloss.), Chunter..to express discontent about trifles. 1847–78 Halliwell, Chunter..also spelt chunner and chunder. 1870 E. Peacock Ralf Skirl. II. 117 Th' capt'n went away chunterin'. 1921 D. H. Lawrence Sea & Sardinia iv. 135 A thin old woman..was chuntering her head off because it was her seat. 1949 C. Fry Lady's not for Burning 27 You..fog-blathering, Chin-chuntering, liturgical,..base old man! 1955 D. Barton Glorious Life i. 19 Paul's telephone rang... There was long chuntering on the wire. 1957 ‘N. Shute’ On Beach i. 2 The baby stirred, and started chuntering and making little whimpering noises. 1965 Spectator 5 Mar. 295/3 An old man..chunters a bit of folk tune which the solo horn dreamily perpetuates. 1968 Autocar 25 Jan. 27/2 The Herald ‘chunters’ straight across the road in front of us. |
Hence chuntering vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1832 Mrs. Toogood Yorksh. Dial. (1863) He is a chuntering sort of fellow, never contented. 1876 Whitby Gloss., ‘A chuntering bout’, a fit of sulkiness with impertinence. |