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chitter

[chit-er]
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verb (used without object)
  1. to twitter.
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Origin of chitter

1350–1400; Middle English che(a)teren, chiteren, variant of chateren to chatter
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for chitter

Historical Examples

  • A chitter of sound came from his audience, so that it appeared that they were all of a strain.

    The Fifth Queen Crowned

    Ford Madox Ford

  • He was conscious of the chitter of insects, but no animals lingered here.

    Star Born

    Andre Norton

  • It is to-day bitter cold, after weeks of lovely warm weather, and I am all in a chitter.

  • Their chitter, chitter, chitter never for a moment ceases or even diminishes in intensity.

    Birds of the Plains

    Douglas Dewar

  • I confess I felt a touch of nausea, but nothing compared with the priest, whose teeth began to chitter in an ague of horror.

British Dictionary definitions for chitter

chitter

verb (intr)
  1. mainly US to twitter or chirp
  2. a dialect word for shiver 1, chatter (def. 3)
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Word Origin

C14: 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 chitter

v.

c.1200, imitative of birds. Related: Chittered; chittering.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper