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• chirp
  chirp

  verb (used without object)

  to make a characteristic short, sharp sound, as small birds and certain insects.
• CHIRP
  CHIRP

  acronym

  Confidential Human Incidents Reporting Programme: a system, run by the RAF Institute of Medicine, by which commercial pilots can comment on safety trends without the knowledge of their employers

chirp

American  

[churp] / tʃɜrp /

verb (used without object)

1. to make a characteristic short, sharp sound, as small birds and certain insects.

2. to make any similar sound.

   The children chirped with amusement.

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verb (used with object)

1. to sound or utter in a chirping manner.

   The little girl chirped her joy.

noun

1. a chirping sound.

chirp ¹ British  

/ tʃɜːp /

verb

1. (esp of some birds and insects) to make a short high-pitched sound

2. to speak in a lively fashion

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noun

1. a chirping sound, esp that made by a bird

CHIRP ² British  

/ tʃɜːp /

acronym

1. Confidential Human Incidents Reporting Programme: a system, run by the RAF Institute of Medicine, by which commercial pilots can comment on safety trends without the knowledge of their employers

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Other Word Forms

• chirper
  noun
• chirpingly
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of chirp

1400–50; late Middle English chyrpynge (gerund); expressive word akin to cheep, chirk, etc.

Explanation

A chirp is the short, high sound a bird makes. The chirps of the robins at your bird feeder through the open window might drive your cat crazy. Birds chirp — you could also say they tweet, twitter, cheep, and warble — and some insects chirp too. An extremely cheerful person also chirps: "The overly enthusiastic tour guide chirps happily as the bus moves through the city." Chirp may have developed as an imitation of the sound itself, or it may stem from the Middle English chirken, "twitter," which is rooted in the Old English cearcian, "to creak."

Example Sentences

Chirp profiles captured portions of the subsurface below approximately 200 pockmarks at the site.

From Science Daily • May 21, 2024

Twitter canceled its Chirp developer conference set for next month as new owner Elon Musk prepares to enact changes to the social media platform.

From Washington Times • Nov. 3, 2022

So when people were using Chirp, after a given number of minutes, we would send them a questionnaire based on a psychological scale for measuring dissociation.

From Scientific American • Jun. 20, 2022

And the next day, it said: "We've identified issues with the Chirp font for Windows users and are actively working on a fix."

From BBC • Aug. 16, 2021

Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp...It’s like hyperactive twittering of mechanical chicks.

From "The Running Dream" by Wendelin Van Draanen

Related Words

• trill
• warble