Dictionary

jaw-jaw en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Reduplication of jaw.

Meanings

1. (slang, uncountable) Chatter; worthless talk.
   • attributed to Winston Churchill Jaw-jaw is better than war-war.
   • After all that jaw-jaw, Shcharansky is currently in an extremely cramped jail cell […] 1986, George F. Will, The Morning After: American Successes and Excesses, 1981-1986 (page 323)

jaw-jaw en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Reduplication of jaw.

Meanings

1. (slang) To talk at length; to chatter or jabber.
   • The EEC and America jaw-jawed their way to the brink of an all-out war over limiting European steel exports to the United States. 1982, Economist, volume 285:
   • We might have five of us jaw-jawing. You don't have that any more. I hate to lose that; it was a great joy in my life. 1995, Lorraine Garkovich, Janet L Bokemeier, Barbara Foote, Harvest of hope: family farming/farming families:
   • ...in certain contexts extensive and prolonged jaw-jawing — in the form of treaty-making — can serve to inhibit the resort to war. 1986, David Sanders, Lawmaking and co-operation in international politics:

Forms