Dictionary

stridulate en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈstɹɪdjʊleɪt/ (UK)

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”))

Meanings

1. (intransitive) To make a high-pitched chirping, grating, hissing, or squeaking sound, as male crickets and grasshoppers do, by rubbing certain body parts together.
   • A window was open, and the crickets were stridulating at an ominous speed in the black motionless foliage. 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin, published 2011, page 191:
   • The crickets stridulated their everlasting monotonous meaningful note. 1984, John Updike, The Witches of Eastwick, page 55:

Forms

Deriveds

stridulator

Relateds

stridulation · stridulous

Synonyms

chirr · chirp

Translations (6)

es estridular (to make a noise by rubbing body parts as do crickets) · bg цвърча (to make a noise by rubbing body parts as do crickets) · mi kitā (to make a noise by rubbing body parts as do crickets) · fi sirittää (to make a noise by rubbing body parts as do crickets) · fr striduler (to make a noise by rubbing body parts as do crickets) · it stridulare (to make a noise by rubbing body parts as do crickets)