talk */*/*/

I UK [tɔːk] / US [tɔk] verb
Word forms "talk":
present tense I/you/we/they talk he/she/it talks present participle talking past tense talked past participle talked

Other ways of saying talk:

chat to talk informally in a friendly way: We sat chatting for over an hour. discuss to talk about a particular subject in detail: Have you discussed the kind of insurance you think you might need?

1) [intransitive] to use words to communicate

Can their baby talk yet?

Am I talking too much?

a) to have a conversation with other people

They were all talking and laughing together.

talk to:

I need to talk to you.

talk with:

Everyone was busily talking with their friends.

talk about:

We were talking about you just last night.

b) if a bird talks, it produces sounds like words

I've taught my parrot to talk.

2) [intransitive] to discuss a problem, especially to avoid arguments or fighting

You and I need to talk.

My wife and I aren't talking at the moment.

talk to:

You kids never talk to me (= discuss anything important with me).

keep talking:

Officials agreed on Monday to keep talking despite the latest crisis.

a) [transitive] to discuss a subject

talk politics/sports/religion etc:

He spoilt the evening by talking politics all the time.

talking of something (= used after a subject has been mentioned in a conversation to introduce a discussion of it):

Oh yes, talking of Harry, have you seen him recently?

b) [intransitive] to discuss other people's private lives

You can't stay here – the neighbours would talk.

3) [intransitive] to give a lecture on a subject

talk on/about:

In the hall a woman was talking on diet and health.

4) [intransitive] to give information that someone thinks should be secret

Do you think the prisoners will talk?

5) [transitive] to achieve something by talking

6) [intransitive] if a machine talks to another machine, it sends information to that machine

The software enables the two computers to talk.

7) [intransitive] informal to have the power to persuade people

Money talks!

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be talking (about) something — informal used for emphasizing a point

This is serious, because we're talking millions of voters.

We're talking about people's lives here!

someone can talk/someone is a fine one to talk/look who's talking — spoken used for emphasizing that you think someone is giving advice or an opinion that is the opposite of how they live or what they do themselves

"I was late, so my boss was furious." "He can talk! He's never on time!"

do (all) the talking — informal if someone does the talking, they deal with a difficult situation by talking or explaining things

When we get in to see him, you'd better let me do the talking.

talk about... — spoken used for emphasizing something

Talk about cold – I was freezing!

Talk about being lazy – she wouldn't move an inch!

talk someone into/out of (doing) something — to persuade someone to do something or not to do something

I talked her into going to London with me.

His father talked him out of moving out.

talk sense/nonsense etc — informal to say something that is sensible/stupid etc

He talks such nonsense about politics!

talk (some) sense into someone — to persuade someone to act in a sensible way

He had already tried to talk sense into Lisa.

talk your way into/out of something — to persuade someone to let you do or avoid something

She eventually talked her way into a part in a film.

that's the drink/drugs etc talking — informal used for saying that someone is saying something only because they have had too much alcohol to drink, have taken drugs etc

- not know what someone is talking about

- now you're talking

- talk English

- talk in terms of something

- talk someone's language

- talk through your hat

Phrasal verbs:

- talk at

- talk away

- talk back

- talk down

- talk down to

- talk out

- talk over

- talk round

- talk through

- talk to

- talk up

See:

language

II UK [tɔːk] / US [tɔk] noun
Word forms "talk":
singular talk plural talks

1)

a) [countable] a conversation with someone

have a talk (with someone):

We had a nice talk yesterday.

b) talks

[plural] discussions between important people from opposing sides designed to help them agree about an issue talk with:

He visited Egypt in March for talks with the president.

talk between:

the outcome of talks between the government and the rebels

talk on:

preliminary talks on the future of the steel industry

have/hold talks:

The management will be holding informal talks with union officials.

a round/session of talks:

the need for a fresh round of peace talks

talks break down/collapse:

Talks broke down last week over the issue of overtime pay.

talks resume/reopen:

The trade talks will resume next month.

2) [countable] an informal lecture about a subject

give/deliver a talk (on something):

Williams gave a talk on his travels in Nepal.

3) [uncountable] ordinary conversations between people

I sat there listening to the sailors' talk.

talk of:

Talk of housework bored her.

the talk turns to something (= the conversation begins to be about something):

Then the talk turned to the upcoming exam.

a) conversations and discussions about what may happen

talk of:

There was no talk of any cuts in wages.

talk about:

There is a lot of talk about welfare reform.

hear talk:

We hear talk nowadays about being good Europeans.

b) the activity of talking, especially when you think it does not achieve anything

Most radio stations need less talk and more music.

be all/just talk:

She appears to be an expert on men, but it's all talk!

despite/for all someone's talk:

For all the government's talk, it does nothing to improve housing conditions.

c) discussion of other people's private lives

At first there was a lot of talk, but people soon lost interest.

d) a style of talking used by a particular group of people

girl/boy talk

youngsters using up-to-the-minute street talk (= a fashionable way of talking)

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- talk is cheap

- the talk of something