chirrup
Americanverb (used without object)
-
to chirp.
robins chirruping on the lawn.
-
to make a similar sound.
She chirruped softly to encourage the horse.
verb (used with object)
-
to utter with chirps.
-
to make a chirping sound to.
noun
verb
-
(esp of some birds) to chirp repeatedly
-
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
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
An antique and strangulated chirrup, with a performance to match.
From The New Yorker ● May 27, 2016
He let out a small chirrup of excitement.
From "Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures" by Kate DiCamillo
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
The exotic bird hopped up beside her and it chirruped, once, curiously.
From "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman
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
Now that sounds like a guaranteed hoot, doesn’t it? — conjuring images of a big palooka scampering around, chirruping, “I’m singin’ in the ring.”
From New York Times ● Mar. 14, 2014
A high, squeaking sound accompanied them; it might have been Margaret’s voice, but in Penelope’s mind it sounded more like the chirruping of a worried Nutsawoo.
From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood
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.
