chirping

chirping

1. present participle and gerund of chirp

chirping (plural chirpings)

1. (gerund of chirp) The act, or an instance of, chirping.
   • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Masques and Triumphs”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:

     Let the songs be loud and cheerful, and not chirpings or pulings.

   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, H.L. Brækstad, transl., Folk and Fairy Tales, page 85:

     We heard the peculiar note of the woodcock, which resembles the repeated croaking of the frog, followed by a sharp hissing sound, somewhat like the noisy chirping of the wagtail[.]

   • 2009, January 11, “Richard Lourie”, in Displaced Minds‎:

     Adler's prose seeks to catch the whispers and chirpings of insanity rather than the lamentations of suffering.