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chirp

[churp]
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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.
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noun
  1. a chirping sound.
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Origin of chirp

1400–50; late Middle English chyrpynge (gerund); expressive word akin to cheep, chirk, etc.
Related formschirp·er, nounchirp·ing·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for chirp

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Silence, broken only by the chirp of the cheery little teakettle.

    Four Girls and a Compact

    Annie Hamilton Donnell

  • Let us forget for a moment the chirp of the family housekeeper over her gods.

    Holbein

    Beatrice Fortescue

  • If you chirp, I'll have to blow the roof of your head off, Gage!

  • Sparrows begin to chirp, first one, then ten, then thousands.

    The Dragon Painter

    Mary McNeil Fenollosa

  • All around him was the chirp and bustle of unseen bird and animal life.

British Dictionary definitions for chirp

chirp

verb (intr)
  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
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Derived Formschirper, noun

Word Origin

C15 (as chirpinge, gerund): of imitative origin

CHIRP

n acronym for
  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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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for chirp

v.

mid-15c. (implied in chirping), echoic, or else a variant of Middle English chirken "to twitter" (late 14c.), from Old English cearcian "to creak, gnash." Related: Chirped. As a noun, attested from 1802.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper