[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. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, III. 7. Away went Mrs. P. with a skip, from the sofa; bidding her dear, dear friend, good night, with a kiss, and a chirp.
1846. Dickens, Cricket on Hearth, iii. 174. Hark! how the Cricket joins the music with its Chirp, Chirp, Chirp.
1850. Tennyson, In Memoriam, 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.
