chirrup
Americanverb (used without object)
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to chirp.
robins chirruping on the lawn.
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to make a similar sound.
She chirruped softly to encourage the horse.
verb (used with object)
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to utter with chirps.
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to make a chirping sound to.
noun
verb
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(esp of some birds) to chirp repeatedly
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to make clucking sounds with the lips
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of chirrup
First recorded in 1570–80; variant of chirp
Vocabulary lists containing chirrup
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The chirrup or trill greeting is a melodious sound that cats make when saying hello to preferred individuals.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 5, 2022
Capturing just 20 seconds of a songbird's chirrup, or an elk's bugle, or a kangaroo's chortle often requires hours of stillness and solitude.
From BBC ● Dec. 1, 2021
They gather in the blocked gutter above my writing room in late afternoon, their short soft chirrup announcing bathing time.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 31, 2019
On a visit in June, the central gaming floor buzzes with the grim tension of high-stakes card games, regularly interspersed by the electronic chirrup of slot machines dishing out their jackpots.
From Time ● Jul. 19, 2016
At lunchtime, when the children were lining up once again in the canteen, Lyra felt Pantalaimon give a chirrup of recognition, and turned to find Billy Costa standing just behind her.
From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman
Mother monkeys kept up their calls, baby monkeys chirruped.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 7, 2019
“What does July 4th mean to me? Freedom,” Sen. Ron Johnson chirruped on Twitter on Independence Day.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 6, 2018
"Currently, Drogba is still a player of Shanghai Shenhua, the contract between the two parties is still within the period of validity," chirruped a club statement.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 30, 2013
"There are all sorts of little buttons you can press," he chirruped, adding that lots of children were waiting outside.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 12, 2011
"Yes, Miss Honey," chirruped eighteen eager little voices.
From "Matilda" by Roald Dahl
Musicians have long incorporated nature's sounds into their music - think of the chirruping in The Beatles' "Blackbird", or the rain falling in "Riders on the Storm" by The Doors.
From BBC ● Apr. 18, 2024
This gentler visual approach extends to the audio; in “Herons,” one of the diaries accessible from the hub, you’ll hear the quiet chirruping of birds amid bright dawn sun.
From The Verge ● Jul. 15, 2021
In the darkness, people moved together in a loose chain, softly chirruping and wind-milling their arms wide to urge the last of the reindeer down to the corral.
From Scientific American ● Nov. 18, 2019
It starts with an elegiac sweep of strings, softly playing in a minor key, before chirruping into birdsong, and then back to ambient strings.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 2, 2018
A high, thin chirruping sound came from somewhere nearby.
From "The City of Ember" by Jeanne DuPrau
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
