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skirr. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
skirr, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
skirr in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
skirr you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Verb
skirr (third-person singular simple present skirrs, present participle skirring, simple past and past participle skirred)
- (intransitive) To leave hastily; to flee, especially with a whirring sound
1851, Frank Forester, (Please provide the book title or journal name), HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2006:… while at the same moment, whir-r-r! up sprung a bevy of twenty quail, at least, startling me for the moment by the thick whirring of their wings, and skirring over the underwood right toward Archer.
1919, EJ Thompson, Beyond Baghdad, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2006:Our left wing, when they occupied the hills, saw four or five hundred Turks 'skirr away' in one body, and the machine-gunners found a target.
- To make a whirring sound.
1920, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Thuvia, Maiden of Mars, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2008:... but that they had no thought to let the thing go unnoticed was quickly evidenced by the skirring of motors upon the landing-stage and the quick shooting airward of a long-lined patrol boat.
- (transitive) To search about in, scour
1851, Washington Irving, Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2009:The gates of Granada once more poured forth legions of light scouring cavalry, which skirred the country up to the very gates of the Christian fortresses, sweeping off flocks and herds.
- to pass over quickly, skim
1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 51:I had flown in a helicopter with Javits and Bobby Kennedy. I was skirring around New York like an ephemerid, my jacket lined with jolly psychedelic green.
Usage notes
Often mistakenly used instead of skirl.
Noun
skirr (plural skirrs)
- (UK, dialect) A tern.
References
- Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary, 2003
- Oxford Dictionary Online, skirr