cheep
Americanverb (used without object)
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cheeps,
present (3rd person singular)
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cheeped,
past participle, past
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cheeping
present participle
-
to chirp; peep.
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Chiefly South Midland U.S. to reveal or tell a secret (usually used in the phrasecheep it ).
verb (used with object)
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cheeps,
present (3rd person singular)
-
cheeped,
past participle, past
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cheeping
present participle
noun
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cheeps
plural
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
cheepsimple
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cheepssimple
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have cheepedperfect
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has cheepedperfect
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am cheepingprogressive
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are cheepingprogressive
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is cheepingprogressive
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have been cheepingperfect progressive
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has been cheepingperfect progressive
Past
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cheepedsimple
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had cheepedperfect
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was cheepingprogressive
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were cheepingprogressive
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had been cheepingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cheep
First recorded in 1505–15; imitative
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.
See Examples For:
As he leaned over a trap with a stick to demonstrate what happens when the mechanism is sprung, there was a sudden flutter and cheep by his shoulder.
From New York Times ● Jun. 5, 2022
“Good putt, bud,” he said to Justin Rose after the Englishman’s uphill, six-foot birdie at the second hole entranced crowds so silent you could hear songbirds cheep.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 27, 2014
He goes on: "You could whirl him round in the Hadron collider without getting a single cheep of remorse."
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2012
The phone suddenly goes into four spasms: kachink cheep.
From Slate ● Oct. 7, 2011
“Cheep, cheep, cheep,” she concludes, waving her head and hands back and forth.
From "Amina's Song" by Hena Khan
By comparing these acoustic data with climate predictions, the research team hopes to learn how drier conditions in the future could threaten prairie chirps and cheeps.
From Science Magazine ● Oct. 17, 2022
But when I refer to birdsong, I mean those longer, more complicated sounds as opposed to the short cheeps and peeps.
From Scientific American ● May 4, 2022
He is also a master of the swell, of getting low notes to fill the hall with tons of pressure and having high birdlike cheeps appearing at the edge of audibility.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2019
“Just keep it short,” she says over the racket of cheeps when I ask her if I can use her phone.
From "The Benefits of Being an Octopus" by Ann Braden
The babies’ cheeps go quiet as soon as she leaves.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
As the column of bombers swept toward Germany, Carpet cheeped from every plane, dazzling the Wurzburgs, while more puffs of glittering Window covered the sky with phantoms.
From Time Magazine Archive
Snuffy Ledoux crowed and clucked and cheeped; Amarante Cordova brayed like a mule.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
She chortled and cheeped and gave his arm an encouraging peck.
From "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill
The sun streamed in through the big bay-window: the sparrows cheeped and twittered outside, and on the window-sill a box of round-faced pansies danced in the merry June breeze.
From Carnival by Compton MacKenzie
The wee helpless thing fluttered weakly in its agony and cheeped piteously.
From The Unpopular Review, Number 19 July-December 1918 by Various
A month later, we heard cheeping from the house and started to see the yawning beaks of ravenous youngsters at the entrance.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 7, 2021
I don’t have to start pretend-flying them through the air and make cheeping noises.
From Slate ● Mar. 6, 2019
We listened to the cheeping of the Shama thrush, native to India.
From New York Times ● Dec. 2, 2011
And a mallard escorts her brood – 10 adorable little cheeping fluffballs – down the rapids.
From The Guardian ● May 17, 2010
I spook at every sound: rats cheeping in the trash, broken bricks settling in the night.
From "Without Refuge" by Jane Mitchell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
