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.

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stridulate British  

/ ˈstrɪdjʊˌleɪt /

verb

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

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Other Word Forms

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

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Etymology

Origin of stridulate

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

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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

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

Many grasshoppers stridulate by rubbing the hind legs across strong nervures on the fore wings.

From The Gutenberg Webster's Unabridged Dictionary Section S by Project Gutenberg

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

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

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

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

We thus see that the stridulating organs in the different coleopterous families are wonderfully diversified in position, but not much in structure.

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

Nevertheless the power of stridulating is certainly a383 sexual character in some few Coleoptera.

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

These stridulating organs were mentioned by C. Darwin as probable examples of the action of sexual selection; they are, however, frequently present in both sexes, and in some families also in the larvae.

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

For hours that and the prolonged stridulating of the crickets were the only sounds.

From A Man's Woman by Frank Norris

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