Also chithering. [f. CHITTER v. + -ING1.] The action of the vb. CHITTER: twittering, shivering, chattering.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, II. 19. The swalow Progne … made her chiteryng.
1546. Langley, Pol. Verg. De Invent., I. xix. 34 a. Of birdes … Carus fyrste marked the chyttering.
1552. Huloet, Chytteryng, quiueryng or shakyng for cold.
1827. in Hone, Every-day Bk., II. 903. The chithering of grasshoppers.
1870. J. Macgregor, Rob Roy on Jordan. It was only the chittering of their bills.
Mod. Sc. He could not speak for the chittering of his teeth.
2. Comb., in chittering-bite, -crust, -piece, (Sc.), a bit of bread, etc., taken to prevent shivering or chattering of the teeth; cf. shivering-bite.
1808. Jamieson, Boys … call that bit of bread, which they preserve for eating after bathing, a chittering piece.
1854. Badham, Halieut., 529. The Greeks … appear to have begun the day with a sort of ‘chittering crust’ (ἀκράτισμα).
