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
In fact, there is only one moment of digital manipulation on the record: a brief chirrup of auto-tune in the middle of Little White Dove.
From BBC ● Mar. 24, 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
Maltby had a perpetual chirrup of amusing small talk.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 3, 2015
All at once, hundreds of birds woke up and began to chirrup loudly.
From "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer
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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
She felt like a universal pet, and the second she voiced that thought to herself, Pantalaimon stretched his goldfinch wings and chirruped loudly.
From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman
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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
I thought back to her newborn sonic effusions as a chirruping cherub on my chest who let forth ribbits during hiccups and sounded at times like a soprano cartoon pterodactyl.
From Scientific American ● Jun. 14, 2021
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
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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.