Also cherup. [f. prec.]
1. A lively modulated chirp (of a bird or insect).
1830. Tennyson, Mariana, vii. The sparrow’s chirrup on the roof.
1846. Dickens, Cricket on Hearth, i. 7–8. And here, if you like, the Cricket DID chime in! with a Chirrup, Chirrup, Chirrup of such magnitude, by way of chorus.
1862. Trench, Poems, Monk & Bird, xxx. The merry chirrup of the grass-hopper.
2. A similar sound made by man, expressing incitement, liveliness, etc.
1788. Cowper, Dog & Water-lily, vii. With a cherup clear and strong, Dispersing all his dream.
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., I. xiv. 209. He heard … the chirrup of the baby at his knee.
1872. J. G. Holland, Marb. Proph., 29. Smothered his chirrup of delight.
