to make a characteristic short, sharp sound, as small birds and certain insects.
2.
to make any similar sound:
The children chirped with amusement.
verb (used with object)
3.
to sound or utter in a chirping manner:
The little girl chirped her joy.
noun
4.
a chirping sound.
Origin
1400-50;late Middle Englishchyrpynge (gerund); expressive word akin to cheep, chirk, etc.
Related forms
chirper, noun
chirpingly, adverb
Examples from the web for chirp
Chickadees and juncos chirp a spirited chorus, interrupted by the scolding of red squirrels.
Each chirp is a brief trill of three to five pulses.
The plant's cooling system is struggling to keep up, and in the control room warnings chirp as the exhaust temperature rises.
The plants cooling system is struggling to keep up, and in the control room warnings chirp as the exhaust temperature rises.
Whether the cricket is dead or alive, traditional wisdom is evidently defunct, a tedious chirp no one has time for.
When the second chirp comes, the neurons have not yet settled down.
As a result, the second chirp creates a different pattern of signals.
The voice coming out of the speakers was processed into a chipmunk chirp.
Crickets, food for a rubbery green tree frog, chirp loudly.
We can still hear the chirp of the sub-bottom profiler, a few times a minute.
British Dictionary definitions for chirp
chirp
/tʃɜːp/
verb (intransitive)
1.
(esp of some birds and insects) to make a short high-pitched sound
2.
to speak in a lively fashion
noun
3.
a chirping sound, esp that made by a bird
Derived Forms
chirper, noun
Word Origin
C15 (as chirpinge, gerund): of imitative origin
CHIRP
/tʃɜːp/
noun acronym
1.
Confidential Human Incidents Reporting Programme: a system, run by the RAF Institute of Medicine, by which commercial pilots can comment on safety trends without the knowledge of their employers
Word Origin and History for chirp
v.
mid-15c. (implied in chirping), echoic, or else a variant of Middle English chirken "to twitter" (late 14c.), from Old English cearcian "to creak, gnash." Related: Chirped. As a noun, attested from 1802.