| 释义 |
▪ I. chirk, v.|tʃɜːk|
Forms: (1 cearcian), 4–6 chirke, 5–6 chyrke, 5–7 cherk(e, 6 churke, 6– chirk.
[In its origin, a variant of chark:—OE. cearcian, stridēre, with which sense 1 coincides. The change to chirk was not phonetic, but evidently a modification adapted to express a thinner sound: another (Sc.) variant chork, expresses a coarser sound.
It was in the form chirk that the word was applied to the voice of birds, for which the original chark was not used. (Here association with chirm may also have worked.) In this sense there further arose the variants chirt and chirp, the latter of which became the prevailing form.]
†1. intr. To make a strident noise; to grate (or otherwise make a noise with) the teeth; to creak as a door; to croak. Obs. exc. Sc. dial.
c1000ælfric Gram. xxvi (Z.) 157 Strideo oððe strido ic cearcige oððe ic gristbitige. c1386Chaucer Pars. T. ⁋531 Of hem that bileeuen in diuynailes as..by chirkynge of dores. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 159 Makiþ hir noyse wiþ grisbaytynge and chirkynge of teeþ. 1398― Barth. De P.R. xvi. xxxvii. (1495) 565 Electrum chyrketh and chaungyth ofte in to diuers colours [ed. 1535 maketh a great chyrkynge noyse]. c1440Promp. Parv. 76 Chyrkynge, sibilatus. Ibid., Chyrkyn', sibilo. 1632Lithgow Trav. ix. (1682) 418 Lest the vehemency of Chirking Frogs, vex the wish'd for Repose. 1806R. Jamieson Pop. Ball. II. 338 (Jam.) The doors will chirk.
2. a. To chirp, chirrup (as a bird); to make a noise with the lips like a bird's chirp; to squeak (as a mouse). arch. and dial. (Not in Sc.)
c1386Chaucer Sompn. T. 96 [He] kist hir swete, and chirkith as a sparwe With his lippes. 1530Palsgr. 484, I chyrke, I make a noyse, as myse do in a house. 1533More Apology xlvii. Wks. 922/1 A few birdes..chirking and fleing from bushe to bushe. 1565–78Cooper Thesaurus, Gingrio, to churke or make a chirme as birdes doe. 1575Turberv. Bk. Falconrie 143 Chyrke wyth your voyce and use those other soundes which falconers do to their hawkes. 1865Swinburne Poems & Ball., Masque Q. Bersabe 28 Ye chirk as starlings that be fed. 1885A. Dobson Sign Lyre 201 The sparrow..chirketh lustily.
†b. trans. To incite by ‘chirking’. Obs.
1486Bk. St. Albans B. iiij b, Cherke hir and whistyll hir [the hawk]. 1601Holland Pliny xxxv. x, A horse-rider cheering and cherking up his horse.
3. a. To become cheerful, cheer up. (U.S. colloq.; see chirk a.)
1844‘Jon. Slick’ High Life N.Y. I. 231 All I could do she wouldn't chirk up. 1860Holland Miss Gilbert vi. 102, I ra'ally hope..she'll chirk up, and get along comfortable. 1886Roe Fell in Love xiii. 117 Don't you worry now; chirk up and you'll come out all right. 1887M. E. Wilkins Humble Romance 17 P'rhaps nothin' awful's goin' to happen... Chirk up an' give us a kiss. 1951H. Giles Harbin's Ridge 139 He chirked up from then on. All of us felt better then.
b. trans. To make cheerful, to brighten up. U.S. colloq.
1843Yale Lit. Mag. Feb. 26 (Th.), All our folks appear more chirkier than they usually feel, in order to chirk her up. 1887R. T. Cooke Happy Dodd xii. 122 Ef there's a mortal thing I can do to help ye, or chirk ye up, I want to do it right off. 1911E. Ferber Dawn O'Hara xvi. 238, I donned a becoming gown to chirk up my courage. 1912W. Irwin Red Button 40 The thought chirked me a lot. 1923Chambers's Jrnl. Apr. 540/2 I'll stay right on here and do what I can to chirk the place up. 1938Sun (Baltimore) 4 Mar. 10/5, I kind o' feel chirked up about my abilities as a prophet. I said..there was a likelihood we would have a blizzard..and sure enough..it came.
▪ II. chirk, a. U.S. colloq.|tʃɜːk|
[perh. f. chirk v.: but prob. associated with cheer.]
‘Lively, cheerful, in good spirits’ (Webster).
1789Webster Diss. Eng. Lang. 387 This word is wholly lost except in New England. It is there used for comfortably, bravely, cheerful, as when one inquires about a sick person, it is said, he is chirk. 1816Pickering Vocab. 59 It should be remarked, that the adjective chirk is used only in the interior of New England; and even there, I think, only by the illiterate. It is never heard in the sea-port towns. 18..Major Downing's Letters (Bartlett) The General looked as chirk and lively as a skipper. 1876Holland Sev. Oaks vii. 93 Be'n purty chirk this summer? 1885U.S. Mag. in Free Ch. Monthly Aug. 244/1 He was as chirk and bright a little fellow as ever was. |