CHIRP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does chirp mean? 

• CHIRP (noun)
  The noun CHIRP has 1 sense:

1. a sharp sound made by small birds or insects

  Familiarity information: CHIRP used as a noun is very rare.

• CHIRP (verb)
  The verb CHIRP has 2 senses:

1. make high-pitched sounds

2. sing in modulation

  Familiarity information: CHIRP used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CHIRP (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A sharp sound made by small birds or insects

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("chirp" is a kind of...):

sound (the sudden occurrence of an audible event)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "chirp"):

tweet (a weak chirping sound as of a small bird)

Derivation:

chirp (make high-pitched sounds)

chirp (sing in modulation)

chirpy ((birds or insects) characterized by or tending to chirp)

• CHIRP (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they chirp    ... he / she / it chirps   
Past simple: chirped   
Past participle: chirped   
-ing form: chirping   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make high-pitched sounds

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

cheep; chirp; chirrup; peep

Context example:

the birds were chirping in the bushes

Hypernyms (to "chirp" is one way to...):

emit; let loose; let out; utter (express audibly; utter sounds (not necessarily words))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "chirp"):

chitter; twitter (make high-pitched sounds, as of birds)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

chirp (a sharp sound made by small birds or insects)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Sing in modulation

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

chirp; tweedle

Hypernyms (to "chirp" is one way to...):

sing (produce tones with the voice)

Domain category:

music (musical activity (singing or whistling etc.))

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

chirp (a sharp sound made by small birds or insects)

 Context examples 

Grasshoppers skipped briskly in the sere grass, and crickets chirped like fairy pipers at a feast.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Then first came two white doves in at the kitchen window; next came two turtle-doves; and after them came all the little birds under heaven, chirping and hopping about.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

I woke with the dawn, and heard the birds chirping outside of the window.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The shrill little whistle, like the chirping of a cricket amid the cries of great beasts, shot through the fog from more to the side and swiftly grew faint and fainter.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

When you stroll through a garden, you may notice several shades of golden daffodils and recognize the chirping of several types of birds.

(Humans Can Identify More Than 1 Trillion Smells, NIH, US)

The waves have characteristic rising tones — reminiscent of the sounds of chirping birds — and are able to efficiently accelerate electrons.

(FIREBIRD II and NASA Mission Locate Whistling Space Electrons’ Origins, NASA)

There was no sound but that of the distant breakers, mounting from all round, and the chirp of countless insects in the brush.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The languid stillness of the place was only broken by the chirping of this fire and by the voice of one of the Doctors, who was wandering slowly through a perfect library of evidence, and stopping to put up, from time to time, at little roadside inns of argument on the journey.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The poem swung in majestic rhythm to the cool tumult of interstellar conflict, to the onset of starry hosts, to the impact of cold suns and the flaming up of nebulae in the darkened void; and through it all, unceasing and faint, like a silver shuttle, ran the frail, piping voice of man, a querulous chirp amid the screaming of planets and the crash of systems.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

His meals were interrupted by the frequent flight of the presiding genius, who deserted him, half-helped, if a muffled chirp sounded from the nest above.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)