chirr

American  

[chur] / tʃɜr /

Or chirre,

verb (used without object)

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

---

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

---

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

Their call for food was a sibilant chirr, and they gave it much oftener than any of the grown-up woodpecker notes.

From A-Birding on a Bronco by Merriam, Florence A.

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

I heard the death-moth tick and stir, Slow-honeycombing through the bark; I heard the cricket's drowsy chirr, And one lone beetle burr the dark— The sleeping woodland seemed to purr.

From Poems by Cawein, Madison Julius

I heard the death-moth tick and stir, Slow-honeycombing through the bark; I heard the crickets' drowsy chirr, And one lone beetle burr the dark— The sleeping woodland seemed to purr.

From Shapes and Shadows by Cawein, Madison J.

Related Words

• groan
• screech
• squeak