skirr
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
verb
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(intr; usually foll by off, away, etc) to move, run, or fly rapidly
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archaic (tr) to move rapidly over (an area, etc), esp in order to find or apprehend
noun
Etymology
Origin of skirr
First recorded in 1540–50; variant of scour 2
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.
Andrew Motion, Britain's poet laureate since 1999, selected skirr, which refers to the rattling, scratchy noise that a bird's wings make during flight.
From Time Magazine Archive
His story begins with a martial skirr in the Peking of 1922.
From Time Magazine Archive
These, with the constant skirr of the ground-crickets and the prolonged whine of the coyote, are the only sounds that salute them as they glide on—none of which are of a kind to cause alarm.
From The Lone Ranche by Mayne Reid
O. N. skirr, clear, bright, skira, to make clear, skýra, to purify.
From Scandinavian influence on Southern Lowland Scotch by George Tobias Flom
His orders were to skirr the mountain country between the Catawba and the Yadkin, harass the whigs, inspirit the tories, and embody the militia under the royal banner.
From The Student's Life of Washington; Condensed from the Larger Work of Washington Irving For Young Persons and for the Use of Schools by Washington Irving
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
