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chirr

or chirre, churr

[chur]
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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.
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Origin of chirr

First recorded in 1590–1600; alteration of chirp
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for chirr

squeak, screech, groan, sound, scratch, scrape, rasp, crepitate, squeal, chirr

Examples from the Web for chirr

Historical Examples of chirr

  • They have peculiar notes like a clear whistle, and a “chirr, chirr!”

    Illustrated Science for Boys and Girls

    Anonymous

  • The cricket's chirr and the occasional affirmations of the katy-did were the only sounds she heard.

  • But on leading up his horse within ten or twelve feet of the pin, it gives a little "chirr" and dives down out of sight.

    Wild Animals at Home

    Ernest Thompson Seton

  • "Not at all," replied the little man, in a voice as dry and crisp as the chirr of a grasshopper.

British Dictionary definitions for chirr

chirr

chirre or churr

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
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Word Origin for chirr

C17: of imitative origin
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 chirr

v.

c.1600, echoic of a grasshopper's trill. Related: Chirred; chirring.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper