A chinwag is a conversation, usually small-talk or gossip. It is mainly used outside the United States. It may sometimes be seen as two words and this is an official variant spelling. It can also be a verb.
To chinwag is to chat or gossip. The past tense is chinwagged, the present tense is chinwags, and the progressive tense is chinwagging. The two word spelling variation does carry over to the verb form, as in chin wagging and chin wagged.
It should be noted that this word is informal and not often used in printed or formal works.
Examples
Events like this are about meeting up with old friends – I particularly enjoyed a chinwag over dinner at our Aberdeen Asset Management table with Catriona Matthew and her husband, Graeme, as well as a chat with Colin Wood, a former Scottish Golf Union president who currently holds the same position with the European Golf Association – and also making new ones. [The Scotsman]
May their chinwags be as fruitful, their agenda world-pleasing and their people as patient as Putin in a Tony Abbott handshake. [Brisbane Times]
Emanating turbo-charged avuncularity, O Briain chinwagged with actor Martin Freeman and comedian Eddie Izzard (he’d already seen the comeback six times). [The Telegraph]
And yet, in his dealings with the media, he can be withdrawn to the point of taciturn – on those occasions he does stoop to chinwagging with grubby hacks, one of his favourite topics is the awfulness of modern pop. [The Irish Independent]