Meaning: baby talk

n.
an adult's imitation of the speech of a young childthe developing speech of a young child

talk Idiom, Proverb

a talking to

a scolding, a personal lecture If he has a poor attitude, Dan will give him a talking to.

coffee talk

conversation while having coffee, water-cooler... I don't believe Sally's pregnant. It's just coffee talk, just gossip.

double-talk

talk that appears to have meaning but does not He gave the audience a lot of double-talk so nobody knew what he wanted to say.

doubletalk

confusing talk, bafflegab His explanation of the Premier's decision was a lot of doubletalk.

fast talker

con artist, clever talker who convinces others easily He is a fast talker so you should be careful not to believe everything that he says.

money talks

money causes action, grease my palm If you want service, money talks. When you pay, they serve.

pep talk

a speech to encourage people to try harder and not give up The coach gave his team a pep talk after they lost three games last month.

shop talk

(See inside joke)

small talk

talk about unimportant topics - the weather etc. Winnie is good at making small talk with strangers.

smooth talker

one who says nice words, butter wouldn't melt... Janet is such a smooth talker! She should be in politics.

straight talk

the truth, the facts, the straight goods My son and I believe in straight talk. We communicate.

sweet talk

praise or flatter someone to get what you want My sister tried to sweet talk our father into giving her the car but he said no.

talk a mile a minute

talk fast, talk quickly Mimi talks a mile a minute. It's hard to understand her.

talk about

if we are talking about, if you want to discuss Talk about cold! Last winter it was -43

talk away

continue talking, talk and talk The baby was talking away, but no one could understand her.

talk back

reply without respect, lip off In China, kids don't talk back to their parents, do they?

talk big

talk boastfully, brag He is always talking big but nobody believes what he says.

talk down to someone

use words or ideas that are too simple I don

talk into

get someone to agree to something, persuade someone to do something She finally talked her father into lending her the family car.

talk is cheap

talk is not action, saying is easier than doing He says he's going to pay his debt, but talk is cheap.

talk it over

discuss it, hash it over I don't agree with you, but let's talk it over before we decide.

talk it up

talk with enthusiasm, tell people about it If we want to build an arena, we have to talk it up with the people.

talk out

discuss until everything is agreed on, settle We stayed up late last night and talked out the problem.

talk out of

persuade not to do something I tried to talk our vice-president out of offering a price that was too low but he wouldn't listen to me.

talk over

discuss something We asked for some time during the meeting to talk over the new proposals.

talk shop

talk about jobs, talk about what we do at work I don't like to talk shop when we have visitors. It's too boring.

talk the leg off the lamb of God

"talk a lot; persuasively; have the gift of the gab" Minerva was a talker. She could talk the leg off the lamb of God!

talk through one

make exaggerated or inaccurate statements He is always talking through his hat and you never know if you can believe him or not.

talk through your hat

talk without logic, say unbelievable things, hot air If you tell Dad about building a home in outer space, he'll say you're talking through your hat.

talk turkey

discuss a fair deal, negotiate seriously If the owner really wants to sell, he'll talk turkey.

talk until the cows come home

talk for a long time We can talk until the cows come home this weekend at the lake.

talk up

speak in favor of The manager was talking up the product as we entered the meeting.

talk your ear off

talk too much, talk all the time Polly is only three years old, but she can talk your ear off.

talk your head off

talk a lot, say too much You can talk your head off, but I won't change my opinion.

the talk of the town

what everybody is talking about, a hot topic If a preacher has an affair with a hooker, it's the talk of the town.

walk the talk

do what you talk about doing, practice what you preach If we advise people to recycle, we should recycle. We have to walk the talk.

water-cooler talk

office news, gossip I believe water-cooler talk - unless it's about me.

talk down

1．make silent by talking louder or longer高声压过（别人的话）；使哑口无言
He tried to argue back but his opponent talked him down．他想反驳，但他的对手高声压倒了他的话。
Such an eloquent man will easily talk us down．这样一个有口才的人，很容易把我们驳得哑口无言。
2．speak disparagingly of; belittle 说…坏话；贬低
The hostile newspapers talked down the importance of the Minister's arrival here．持敌对态度的报纸对部长来此访问的重要性加以贬低。
3．give radio instructions for landing an airplane because of instrument failure or poor visibility（因仪器故障或能见度低）用无线电通讯引导飞机降落
His flying instruments have all been destroyed by enemy gunfire，so the air traffic controllers will have to talk him．他的飞行器械都给敌人的炮火击毁了，所以机场导航员只能通过无线电讲话引导他降落。
4．use words or ideas that are too easy用太简单的字或观念
The speaker talked down to the students， and they were bored．演讲者讲的内容太简单，学生们都听得不耐烦了。
5．speak in a condescending or superior manner以高人一等的口吻说话
She talks down to everyone，particularly young people．她对谁讲话都摆出高人一等的样子，特别是对青年人。
The audience do not like being talked down to．听众不喜欢听人用高人一等的口吻同他们讲话。

talk of

1．mention谈到；说到
In his lecture，Professor Wang talked of peaceful uses of atomic energy．在讲座中，王教授谈到了和平利用原子能。
We have talked of what we shall do next．我们讨论了下一步该干什么。
We are just talking of the most exciting book that we have tead recently．我们正在谈论最近读过的一本十分动人的书。
2．debate as a possibility; discuss 讨论…之可行性；讨论
The two companies have been talking about a merger．这两家公司一直在讨论合并的可能性。
What are you talking of？你们正谈论什么？

talk of/about

talk of the town

sth． that has become very popular or of great prominence家喻户晓的事情；大家谈论的话题
Their love affair has become the talk of the town．他俩谈恋爱的事成了众所周知的事情。
Recent nudity on the New York stage has been the talk of the town.最近纽约舞台上出现裸体的事情已经成为街谈巷议的话题。
His success has become the talk of the town.他的成功已成为大家谈论的话题。

talk round

1．persuade； convince劝说；说服At first my friend refused to fall in with the scheme we had suggested， but eventually I managed to talk him round．起初我的朋友不同意我们提出的计划，但我终于设法说服了他。
I don't know whether I can talk him round．我不知道我能否使他回心转意。
2．avoid approaching（a subject）directly兜圈子谈（问题）
He didn't really come to the point；he just talked round it．他其实并没有讲到点子上，而只是在兜圈子。

talk sb's bead off

speak to sb．at great length对某人讲得太多
He's been talking my head off．他一直跟我唠叨不休。

talk to

1．speak to同…谈话
Don't talk to that rough boy any more．不要同那个粗野的男孩再谈下去了。
The teacher is talking to some students on the campus．老师正在校园里和一些学生谈话。
2．reprove责骂
I'll talk to him when he gets home．他回来时我会教训他的。
He talked to them very sharply.他严厉地训斥了他们。
The boy needs to be talked to．这男孩需要好好教训一下。

talked out

Idiom(s): talked out

Theme: COMMUNICATION - VERBAL

tired of talking; unable to talk more. (Folksy.)
• I can't go on. I'm all talked out.
• She was talked out in the first hour of discussion.

talk until one is blue in the face

Idiom(s): talk until one is blue in the face

Theme: COMMUNICATION - VERBAL

to talk until one is exhausted. (Informal.)
• I talked until I was blue in the face, but I couldn't change her mind.
• She had to talk until she was blue in the face in order to convince him.

talk through one's hat

Idiom(s): talk through one's hat

Theme: BOASTING

to talk nonsense; to brag and boast. (Informal.)
• John isn't really as good as he says. He's just talking through his hat.
• Stop talking through your hat and start being sincere!

talk sth over

Idiom(s): talk sth over

Theme: COMMUNICATION - VERBAL

to discuss something
• Come into my office so we can talk this over.
• We talked over the plans for nearly an hour.

talk sth out

Idiom(s): talk sth out

Theme: DISCUSSION

to talk about all aspects of a problem or disagreement.
• Ann and Sally had a problem, so they agreed to talk it out.
• It's better to talk out a disagreement than to stay mad.

talk one's head off

Idiom(s): talk one's head off

Theme: BOREDOM

[for someone] to speak too much. (Slang.)
• Why does John always talk his head off? Doesn't he know he bores people?
• She talks her head off and doesn't seem to know what she's saying.

More Idioms/Phrases

talked out talk until one is blue in the face talk through one's hat talk sth over talk sth out talk one's head off talk sb out of talk sb into talk sb down talk oneself out