English

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Etymology

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up- +‎ whirr

Verb

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upwhirr (third-person singular simple present upwhirrs, present participle upwhirring, simple past and past participle upwhirred)

  1. (intransitive, rare) To rise with a whirring sound.
    • 1924, Zane Grey, The Call of the Canyon:
      Moreover, he did not shy at things lying in the road or rabbits darting from bushes or at the upwhirring of birds.
    • 1977, Terrence Kilpatrick, Swimming Man Burning, page 122:
      [] spearing the wild turkeys gossiping stupidly in a line along the branches, flushing the partridges, wing-shooting as they upwhirred []