stridulate

American  

[strij-uh-layt] / ˈstrɪdʒ əˌleɪt /

verb (used without object)

stridulated, stridulating

1. to produce a shrill, grating sound, as a cricket does, by rubbing together certain parts of the body; shrill.

---

stridulate British  

/ ˈstrɪdjʊˌleɪt /

verb

1. (intr) (of insects such as the cricket) to produce sounds by rubbing one part of the body against another

---

Other Word Forms

• stridulation
  noun
• stridulator
  noun
• stridulatory
  adjective
• unstridulating
  adjective

---

Etymology

Origin of stridulate

First recorded in 1830–40; back formation from stridulation; see stridulous, -ate ¹, -ion

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

stridulate stridulated stridulating

Like crickets and katydids, they can stridulate by rubbing its body parts together to attract a mate or ward off potential predators.

From Scientific American ● Apr. 26, 2013

Many insects stridulate by rubbing together specially modified parts of their hard integuments.

From The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin

The insects which employ the fourth method also stridulate during night.

From The Scrap Book, Volume 1, No. 6 August 1906 by Various

I then removed the antennæ of the male, and again made the female stridulate; the male heard her, and at once crawled toward her, although his antennæ were entirely removed.

From The Dawn of Reason or, Mental Traits in the Lower Animals by James Weir

Beetles stridulate under various emotions, in the same manner as birds use their voices for many purposes besides singing to their mates.

From The Descent of Man by Charles Darwin

Decrepit, senile, and miserable, Tithonus eventually shrank into a cicada who stridulated ceaselessly, calling out for release.

From The New Yorker ● Mar. 27, 2017

The insects buzzed, whined, hummed, stridulated and droned as the air grew warmer in the sunset.

From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams

From Vera Cruz to Jalapa, more than 100 miles, were "hordes" of grasshoppers, gaily munching crops, stopping trains and stridulating with much gusto.

From Time Magazine Archive

Scudder has described an annectant insect in Devonian strata, furnished with a stridulating apparatus.

From More Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 2 by Sir Francis Darwin

In the females, however, of all three species of Oryctes, when the abdomen of a softened specimen is pushed backwards and forwards, a slight grating or stridulating sound can be produced.

From The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, Vol. I by Charles Darwin

File: the diagonal ridged vein near the base of the tegmina in crickets, used in stridulating: in general any structure wherever situated that serves the same purpose.

From Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology by John. B. Smith

In a large number 669 of beetles of different families, stridulating areas occur on various segments of the abdomen, and are scraped by the elytra.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 6 "Cockaigne" to "Columbus, Christopher" by Various

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---