stridulate

English

Etymology

Back-formation from stridulation. (From earlier term stridulous; from Latin strīdulus (“giving a shrill sound, creaking”), from strīdō (“utter a shrill or harsh sound; creak, shriek, grate, hiss”))

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /stɹɪdjʊˈleɪʃ(ə)n/

Verb

stridulate (third-person singular simple present stridulates, present participle stridulating, simple past and past participle stridulated)

(intransitive) To make a high-pitched chirping, grating, hissing, or squeaking sound, as male crickets and grasshoppers do, by rubbing certain body parts together.
- 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin 2011, p. 191:
  A window was open, and the crickets were stridulating at an ominous speed in the black motionless foliage.
- 1984, John Updike, The Witches of Eastwick, p55
  The crickets stridulated their everlasting monotonous meaningful note.

Synonyms

chirp

Related terms

stridulation
stridulous

Translations

to make a noise by rubbing body parts as do crickets

Maori: kitā

Italian

Verb

stridulate

second-person plural present indicative of stridulare
second-person plural imperative of stridulare

Participle

stridulate

feminine singular of the past participle of stridulare