▪ I. chirt, v. Obs. or Sc.
(tʃɜːt)
[In branch I, a parallel form to chirk, chirp: see chirr. In branch II, used to express an action accompanied by such a sound, and then transferred.]
I. Obs. Of sound.
† 1. intr. To chirp. Obs.
| c 1386 Chaucer Sompn. T. 96 [He] kiste hire sweete and chirteth [4 MSS. chirketh] as a sparwe With his lyppes. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ix. v. (Tollem. MS.) Exciteþ briddes and foulis to chirtynge [ed. 1495 chyrterynge, 1535 cherterynge] and to loue [ad garritum et amores]. |
II. Of an action. Sc.
2. intr. To issue or spout out with a chirping sound, as liquid when squeezed; to spirt or squirt.
| 1513 Douglas æneis iii. ix. 72 The ȝoustir tharfra chirtand and blak blud. Ibid. viii. iv. 169 He him in armys claspit, And so strenȝeit his thrott, furth chirt his ene. |
3. trans. ‘To squeeze (liquid) through the teeth’ (Ruddiman); ‘to squeeze, to press out’ (Jam.).
| 1805 G. M'Indoe Million Potatoes 149 John chirted out his hairy purse. 1822 Blackw. Mag. XII. 335 All meaning is chirted out of these words. 1826 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. I. 259 The love o' truth chirts it out o' me. |
4. intr. To press in.
| 1790–1813 A. Wilson Ep. E. Picken Poet. Wks. 107 While lads and laughin' lasses free Chirt in to hear thy sang. |
▪ II. chirt, n.
(tʃɜːt)
[f. prec. vb.]
† 1. A sound resembling a chirp; used by A. Hume to describe the sound of (tʃ). Obs.
| c 1620 A. Hume Brit. Tong. (1865) 13 With c we spil the aspiration, turning it into an Italian chirt; as, charitie, cherrie. |
2. A squeeze (which ejects liquid).
| 1834 M. Scott Cruise Midge (1863) 171 Giving his trowsers a hitch, and his quid a cruel chirt. |
▪ III. chirt
obs. form of chert.