chitter

[chit-er]

verb (used without object)

to twitter.

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. 2019

Examples from the Web for chitter

Historical Examples of chitter

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.
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 23 (of 25)
Robert Louis Stevenson
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.
The Shoes of Fortune
Neil Munro

British Dictionary definitions for chitter

chitter

verb (intr)

mainly US to twitter or chirp

a dialect word for shiver 1, chatter (def. 3)

Word Origin for chitter

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

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