▪ I. chirp, v.
(tʃɜːp)
Also 5 chyrpe, 6 churpe, shirp, 6–7 chirpe, 7 cherp.
[A late word, evidently owing its origin to the working of mimetic modification upon the earlier synonyms chirk and chirt. The labial p with which chirp ends, being more suggestive of the movements of a bird's bill (cf. cheep, peep, etc.), this has become the prevailing form, and the proper word for the action. (See also chirr.) Cf. mod.G. zirpen, a parallel imitative word.]
1. a. intr. To utter the short sharp thin sound proper to some small birds and certain insects.
| 1440 [see chirping vbl. n.] 1566 Painter Pal. Pleas. I. 72 The yonge larkes..peping and chirping about their mother. 1570 Levins Manip. Voc., To churpe, pipilare. 1579 Fulke Ref. Rastel 733 In our praiers we must not chirpe like birdes, but sing like men. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 26 If the Sparrowes doe sing and chirpe beyond measure. 1629 Sclater Exp. 2 Thess. 219 The swarmes of Locusts afresh chirping amongst vs. 1773 Barrington Singing of Birds in Phil. Trans. LXIII. 249 To chirp, is the first sound which a young bird utters..and is different in all nestlings. 1785 S. Fielding Ophelia II. ii, Crickets..chirped the live-long night. 1842 J. Wilson Chr. North I. 146 A few sparrows chirping..in the eaves. |
b. trans. To utter by chirping.
| 1614 T. Adams Devil's Banquet 61 The vncleane Sparrowes, cherping the voice of Lust on the house-tops. 1794 Southey Wat Tyler i. The linnet..Chirps her vernal song of love. 1816 Byron Ch. Har. iii. lxxxvi, Or chirps the grasshopper one good-night carol more. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xli. Snow-birds..chirping sweet music. |
2. a. intr. To make a sound imitative of, or similar to, the chirp of a bird; esp. to make a sound of suction with compressed lips by way of encouragement or greeting (now usually chirrup).
| 1575 Turberv. Falconrie 90 Rubbe hir feete with warme fleshe, chirping and whistling to hir. 1618 Latham 2nd Bk. Falconry (1633) 25 Vsing your voice in whistling or chirping vnto her. 1647 Crashaw Music's Duel Poems 89 The high-perch'd treble chirps at this. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge lxxx, The tea-kettle had been..chirping as never kettle chirped before. |
b. trans. To greet or incite by chirping; esp. with adverbial extension. c. to chirp up (U.S.): to cheer up.
| 1832 L. Hunt Poems, Redi's Bacchus in T. 205 Chirp it and challenge it [wine], swallow it down. 1880 Howells Undisc. Country xii. 161 The Shaker chirped his reeking horses into a livelier pace. 188. J. Greenwood Odd People in Odd Places 87, I chirped her up for a time, but she did not last much longer. |
3. intr. To speak in a manner compared in some respect to the chirping of birds. a. To utter words feebly and faintly, to ‘cheep’. b. To talk in sprightly and lively tones, to give utterance to cheerful feelings. Also to chirp it and chirp up. U.S.
| 1604 Broughton Corrupt. Handl. Relig. 68 [They] graunt them more..then of themselues they durst euer chirp to speak for. 1648 Herrick Hesper., Upon Mrs. E. Wheeler, He chirpt for joy, to see himself disceav'd. 1664 Sir C. Lyttelton in Hatton Corr. (1878) 38 As when you may remember wee chirpt it sometimes in Duke Street. 1823 Lamb Elia i. i. (1865) 5 How would he chirp, and expand, over a muffin. 1887 Hall Caine Son of Hagar I. i. ii. 40 They're chirming and chirping like as many sparrows. 1897 R. M. Stuart Simpkinsville 35 Mis' Meredith is chirpin' up a'ready. |
▪ II. chirp, n.
(tʃɜːp)
[f. prec. vb.]
The short sharp shrill sound made by some small birds and certain insects; a sound made with the lips resembling this; a chirrup.
| 1802 Southey Thalaba iv. v, The grey Lizard's chirp. 1825 Bro. Jonathan III. 7 Away went Mrs. P...bidding her dear dear friend good night, with a kiss and a chirp. 1845 Dickens Cricket on Hearth, Hark! how the Cricket joins the music with its Chirp, Chirp, Chirp. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. cxix. 5, I hear a chirp of birds. 1855 Maury Phys. Geog. Sea viii. §399 Even the chirp of the stormy-petrel ceases to he heard here. |