chirr

American  

[chur] / tʃɜr /

Or chirre,

verb (used without object)

1. to make a characteristic shrill, trilling sound, as a grasshopper.

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noun

1. the sound of chirring.

chirr British  

/ tʃɜː /

verb

1. (intr) (esp of certain insects, such as crickets) to make a shrill trilled sound

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noun

1. the sound of chirring

Etymology

Origin of chirr

First recorded in 1590–1600; alteration of chirp

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

chirr

A pensive stillness passed while they listened to the hushed chirr of insects in the trees that surrounded the cemetery like an embrace.

From "The Serpent King" by Jeff Zentner

The air was full of a faint far chirr of night insects, like an elfin serenade, and here and there among the trees pulsed the greenish-yellow spark of a firefly.

From The Valiants of Virginia by Hallie Erminie Rives

Now an uneasy head is thrust out, and now a whole tiny body, but it soon reënters in another quarter, and at length the stir and chirr grow still.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 92, June, 1865 by Various

Nothing broke their stillness save the occasional sharp chirr of a chipmunk, or the tapp, tapp of the little black-and-white wood-peckers on some hollow limb.

From Dusty Star by Olaf Baker

The soldier stood erect, gray-faced and immovable, his eyes fixed, his teeth set, his hand gripping the pike, till the insects, reassured, began to chirr close about him.

From The Yoke A Romance of the Days when the Lord Redeemed the Children of Israel from the Bondage of Egypt by Elizabeth Miller

Related Words

• groan
• screech
• squeak