chitter
English
editEtymology 1
editFrom Middle English chiteren, chitren, cheteren. Ultimately onomatopoeic; compare didder and teeter as well as German zittern.
Verb
editchitter (third-person singular simple present chitters, present participle chittering, simple past and past participle chittered)
- To make a series of high-pitched sounds; to twitter, chirp or chatter.
- It was a beautifully sunny day and beetles could be heard chittering loudly in the rose garden by the side of the path made out of antique bricks.
- (obsolete, Scotland) To shiver or chatter with cold.
- 1786, Robert Burns, A Winter Night:
- Whare wilt thou cower thy chittering wing, / An' close thy e'e?
Derived terms
editEtymology 2
editNoun
editchitter (plural chitters)
- (dialect) Alternative form of chitterling
References
edit- “chitter” in the Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, 1974 edition.
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English onomatopoeias
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with obsolete senses
- Scottish English
- English terms with quotations
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English dialectal terms