chitter
verbUK /ˈtʃɪtə/ · /ˈt͡ʃɪtɚ/
Etymology From Middle English chiteren, chitren, cheteren. Ultimately onomatopoeic; compare didder and teeter as well as German zittern.
1
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.
- Whare wilt thou cower thy chittering wing, / An' close thy e'e?1786, Robert Burns, A Winter Night:
- Derived terms
- chitter-chatter