Adjacent Words

stridulate definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: make a shrill creaking noise by rubbing together special bodily structures; "male insects such as crickets or grasshoppers stridulate" [syn: stridulate, clitter]

Merriam Webster's

intransitive verb (-lated; -lating) Etymology: back-formation from stridulation, from French, high-pitched sound, from Latin stridulus shrill Date: 1838 to make a shrill creaking noise by rubbing together special bodily structures — used especially of male insects (as crickets or grasshoppers) • stridulation noun • stridulatory adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.intr. (of insects, esp. the cicada and grasshopper) make a shrill sound by rubbing esp. the legs or wing-cases together. Derivatives: stridulant adj. stridulation n. Etymology: F striduler f. L stridulus creaking (as STRIDENT)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Stridulate Strid"u*late, v. t. [See Stridulous.] To make a shrill, creaking noise; specifically (Zo["o]l.), to make a shrill or musical sound, such as is made by the males of many insects.