to chat someone up

3 6.9

Talk to someone in a friendly, flirty way to start a romantic relationship

phrasal verb

NSFW

: ligar

At the party, he tried to chat someone up by complimenting her dress.
start chatting up
chatting up girls
trying to chat up

Examples

Sure I was chatting her up.

Rodeo (1969)
It was at Vicky's afternoon language class, which she took several days a week to improve her Spanish, that she met Ben, a young man who couldn't stop noticing her and started to chat her up each day.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
You wanna chat him up?

C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud (1989)
I could chat him up, I suppose.

The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970)
If it's a woman, I'll chat her up... and we'll be off before you knew it.

Waking Ned (1998)
Chat her up, make conversation.

Monster High: The Movie (2022)
- I saw you chatting him up at the bar.

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009)
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to chat up a rich alumnus so we can pay our salaries.

Monster High: The Movie (2022)
I watched a few races in the morning and chatted up the Raleigh team, and they offered me a bike!

Blog text (21)
I do the host thing and chat them up, and learn that Gina met Malcolm in high school a few towns over, and it was a big family scandal, but they're still together.

Fiction book (2002)

Synonyms

to flirt

vsto chat someone up

267 3.1

Behave playfully or tease someone to show romantic interest

aims to start a romantic or sexual relationship rather than playful teasing

to hit on

vsto chat someone up

NSFW

154 7.8

Try to show romantic or sexual interest in someone by making advances

focuses on starting a relationship rather than only showing interest

to pick up

vsto chat someone up

NSFW

126 8.2

To meet someone to start a romantic or sexual relationship

involves talking to attract someone and often aims for a longer relationship

to chat up

vsto chat someone up

NSFW

4 7.8

Talk to someone in a friendly way to try to start a romantic relationship

is aimed at starting a romantic or sexual relationship rather than just attracting

Antonyms

to ignore

∞ 1.0

Choose not to pay attention to someone or something

to rebuff

18 7.7

To say no to someone or their offer in a quick rude way

How Flirtatious

to hit on

NSFW

154 7.8

to chat someone up

NSFW

3 6.9

to flirt

267 3.1

Surface Forms

chat someone up infinitive

chatted someone up past

chatted someone up past participle

chatting someone up present participle

chats someone up third person singular

Morphology

chat + someone + up

Knowing 'chat' (to talk informally) and 'someone' gives a learner the basic idea of 'talking to a person', but the specific pragmatic meaning of approaching/flirting is carried by the particle 'up' and is not reliably predictable from the parts. The flirtatious/romantic intent is idiomatic and requires prior exposure or cultural knowledge, so the expression is only partially transparent to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Chat someone up may come from the simple image of talking to a person to 'raise' their interest: you chat to someone and move things up toward a closer feeling. So it means 'to talk to someone in a friendly or flirtatious way' to try to begin a romantic relationship.