chirrup

English

Etymology

Variant of chirp.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃɪɹəp/, /ˈt͡ʃɜɹəp/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪɹəp, -ɜːɹəp

Verb

chirrup (third-person singular simple present chirrups, present participle chirruping, simple past and past participle chirruped)

1. (intransitive) To make a series of chirps, clicks, or clucks.
   • 1841, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter 17, in The Deerslayer: Or, the First War-path‎^[1]:

     When other folks' squirrels are at home and asleep, yourn keep in motion among the trees and chirrup and sing, in a way that even a Delaware gal can understand their music!

   • 2022 July 23, “A She-Cat Tamed By The Purr Of Her Humans”, in Not Always Right‎^[2], archived from the original on 11 December 2022:

     Face Eater Cat is a very happy, healthy animal who's found her forever home, and she chirrups along when serenaded with eighties hits. It's a match made in heaven.

2. (transitive) To express by chirping.

   The crickets chirruped their song.

   • 1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries:

     'Busy, Max?' chirruped the familiar voice of his friend the inquiry agent—incurably brisk and debonair even after its ten miles' journey along the wire.

3. (transitive) To quicken or animate by chirping.

   to chirrup a horse

Derived terms

• chirruper
• chirrupy

Translations

to make a series of chirps, clicks or clucks (of technical or other origin)

• Finnish: naksuttaa (fi) (click)

to make a series of chirps, clicks or clucks (birds)

• Bulgarian: цвъркам (bg) (cvǎrkam)
• Finnish: sirkuttaa (fi)
• German: zwitschern (de), tschilpen (de) (sparrows)
• Greek: κελαηδώ (el) (kelaïdó)
• Māori: korotī
• Russian: чирикать (ru) (čirikatʹ), щебетать (ru) (ščebetatʹ)

to make a series of chirps, clicks or clucks (insects, esp. crickets)

• Bulgarian: цвъртя (bg) (cvǎrtja)
• Finnish: sirittää (fi)
• German: zirpen (de)

Noun

chirrup (plural chirrups)

1. A series of chirps, clicks or clucks.
   • 1845 Charles Dickens, The Cricket on the Hearth, Chirp the First,^[3]

     And here, if you like, the Cricket DID chime in! with a Chirrup, Chirrup, Chirrup of such magnitude, by way of chorus […]

   • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 9, in The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN:

     […] the music flashed by in delirious chirrups and stampings.

   • 1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries:

     the slight chirrup of a stoppered phial being opened

2. (figurative, derogatory) A brief, high-pitched, insignificant statement.
   • 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

     For an hour or more that evening I listened to his monotonous chirrup about bad money driving out good, the token value of silver, the depreciation of the rupee, and the true standards of exchange.

   • 1918 June, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “Prelude”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, page 2:

     “ […] Children, say ‘thank you’ to Mrs. Samuel Josephs.” Two subdued chirrups: “Thank you, Mrs. Samuel Josephs.”

Translations

A series of chirps, clicks or clucks (of technical or other origin)

• German: Geklicker n, Klackern (de) n, Gepfeife n

A series of chirps, clicks or clucks (birds)

• German: Zwitschern (de) n, Gezwitscher (de) n

A series of chirps, clicks or clucks (insects, esp. crickets)

• German: Gezirpe n

A brief, high-pitched, insignificant statement (metaphorical)

• German: Geschnatter (de) n, Gegacker (de) n, Gepiepse n