chunter

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtʃʌn.tə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈtʃʌn.tɚ/

chunter (third-person singular simple present chunters, present participle chuntering, simple past and past participle chuntered)

1. (Britain, dialectal) To speak in a soft, indistinct manner, mutter.
   • 2003, J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, page 349:

     Ron continued to chunter under his breath all the way down the street.

2. (Britain, dialectal) To grumble, complain.
   • 1921 [1999], David Herbert Lawrence, Sea and Sardinia (Penguins Classics), page 74:

     “Since she had another seat and was quite comfortable, we smiled and let her chunter.”

• “D. H. Lawrence gave a new lease on life to the verb to chunter, ‘to mutter, complain’, labelled “Obs. exc. dial”, when he used it in Sea and Sardinia (1921)’,” Languages in Contact and Contrast: Essays in Contact Linguistics, by Vladimir Ivir, Damir Kalogjera, page 411 (b.g.c link)