chirp

\ ˈchərp

chirped; chirping; chirps

Definition of chirp

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 : to make a chirp or a sound resembling a chirp chirping birds … he had listened many times to the sound of grasshoppers chirping in the grass, and he had always liked the noise that they made.— Roald Dahl … Jesse Levine was luxuriating at home in Boca Raton last month when his cellphone chirped.— L. Jon Wertheim

2 : to utter (something) with a cheerful liveliness She sang three songs … and chirped "Goodbye everybody! See you tomorrow!"— Garrison Keillor

3 informal : to make sharply critical, complaining, or taunting remarks Emotions boiled over for Panthers quarterback Cam Newton and cornerback Josh Norman after the two chirped at each other consistently for two weeks.— Ben Volin After the fight, which McLeod more or less won, the two chirped at each other in the penalty box … — USA Today … some of his teammates chirped about the officiating …— Jack McCallum

chirp

noun

Definition of chirp (Entry 2 of 2)

: the characteristic short sharp sound especially of a small bird or insect

Synonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about chirp

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Examples of chirp in a Sentence

Verb The birds were chirping in the trees. We heard the crickets chirping.

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb As people can sense from watching the Cuomo brothers chirp each other, even the most lighthearted Cuomo-family trash talk comes with a tincture of grievance. — Nick Paumgarten, The New Yorker, "Andrew Cuomo, the King of New York," 12 Oct. 2020 While never unseemly enough to chirp its tires, the Ghost will launch hard with the nose-up attitude common to the powerful but softly sprung. — Mike Duff, Car and Driver, "2021 Rolls-Royce Ghost Marks an Opulent Evolution," 23 Sep. 2020 Most alarms will chirp when the smoke detector battery is almost dead. — Nicole Bradley, Better Homes & Gardens, "6 Best Smoke Detectors to Keep Your Family Safe," 2 June 2020 Courtesy of The Home Depot Avoid low-battery chirps every six months by installing a 10-year-battery smoke detector, which utilizes a long-lasting lithium battery. — Nicole Bradley, Better Homes & Gardens, "6 Best Smoke Detectors to Keep Your Family Safe," 2 June 2020 After a particularly long week of hard news, stress or even just boredom, taking time out to appreciate plants in bloom, animals chirping or a clear blue sky always seems to set me at ease. — Nicole Briese, USA TODAY, "This 3-piece rocking chair set will brighten up your outdoor space—and it's less than $200," 28 May 2020 At the limit — tires chirping — the Model Y’s taller head and added 344 pounds of weight become apparent, but an SUV has no business handling like this. — Tribune News Service, cleveland, "Tesla Model Y charges luxury SUV market with roomy SUV version of its Model 3 (review)," 16 May 2020 Birds chirped in the morning sun, rain showers fell on the forest and hikers gleefully walked the muddy trails, soaking in the bright green glow of nature after nearly two months of being kept out. — oregonlive, "Hikers return to Tryon Creek in Portland as some Oregon state parks reopen," 6 May 2020 Flowers will bloom into soft bright hues, birds are chirping again, the warmth and glow of the sunlight will last later and later into the evening. — USA Today, "Coronavirus anxiety has upended our lives, but take a moment to breathe," 1 Apr. 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Noun Under the hum of mechanical equipment and the steady chirp of a heart-rate monitor, a COVID-19 patient lies quietly in the intensive care unit of Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital. — Hayley Smith, Los Angeles Times, "‘Separate and unequal’: South L.A.'s MLK hospital faces crisis on top of crisis," 1 Jan. 2021 In a paper published in the journal Universal Access, researchers reported that people also label certain sounds as cute, and those sounds tend to be high pitched, like the chirp of a baby bird. — Kristin Wong, Wired, "The Power of Kawaii: How Cute, Squishy Things Influence Us," 25 Dec. 2020 A year that began with the coronation of the Next Greatest Quarterback of All Time was also supposed to include a Summer Olympics, an NBA legend romping to a title in Kobe’s house, the comforting chirp of birds in Augusta. — Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY, "Sports' winners, losers from 2020: The people, institutions that stood out with calendar upended," 21 Dec. 2020 From details of the mergers’ chirp-like signals, scientists can calculate the masses of the colliding black holes. — Adrian Cho, Science | AAAS, "The universe teems with weird black holes, gravitational-wave hunters find," 28 Oct. 2020 The authors conclude that the existing sensitivity of the LIGO/VIRGO detectors should be sufficient to observe this post-merger chirp signature in their data. — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, "Black hole mergers may emit double chirps, giving us clues about their shape," 8 Oct. 2020 My festival screenings have been continually interrupted by the birds that chirp and flutter around my windows. — Manohla Dargis, New York Times, "We Watched Fall Film Festivals From Home. Here’s How It Went.," 22 Sep. 2020 Here’s how to create a carton bird feeder filled with a chirp-worthy snack. — Kris Coronado, Washington Post, "Give birds a reason to visit your backyard with a milk carton feeder," 8 Sep. 2020 In a video posted by The Enquirer's Bobby Nightengale after Game 2 of Saturday's doubleheader, Antone was asked if the Cubs chirp more than other opponents. — Dave Clark, The Enquirer, "Cincinnati Reds 'chirpy, ridiculous' against Cubs, per Chicago media's David Kaplan," 31 Aug. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'chirp.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.