Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The soft vibrant sound made by a cat.
  • noun A sound similar to that made by a cat.
  • intransitive verb To make or utter a soft vibrant sound.
  • intransitive verb To express by a soft vibrant sound.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A sandpiper, Tringa alpina, commonly called dunlin.
  • noun A bivalve of the family Veneridæ, Tapes decussata.
  • noun The sound made by a cat in purring.
  • noun See pur.
  • To utter a low murmuring sound expressive of satisfaction or pleasure, as a cat.
  • To express or signify by purring.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The low murmuring sound made by a cat; pur. See pur.
  • verb To murmur as a cat. See pur.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb intransitive Of a cat, to make a vibrating sound in its throat when contented.
  • verb transitive To say (something) in a throaty, seductive manner.
  • verb intransitive To make a vibrating throaty sound, as from pleasure.
  • verb intransitive, of an engine To make a low and consistent rumbling sound.
  • noun The vibrating sound made by a cat in its throat when contented.
  • noun A throaty, seductive sound of pleasure made by a person.
  • noun The low consistent rumble made by an engine at slow speed

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb indicate pleasure by purring; characteristic of cats
  • verb make a soft swishing sound
  • noun a low vibrating sound typical of a contented cat

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Imitative.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Onomatopoeic.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word purr.

Examples

  • * purr purr* Sounded like a cement machine with all his purring.

    hemopoetic Diary Entry hemopoetic 2002

  • A lion's purr is quite something, and for a moment Charlie so enjoyed the heavy, rhythmic reverberations through his feet that he didn't want to move.

    Excerpt: Lionboy by Zizou Corder 2003

  • That rumbling sound that we call a purr is clearly meant to be communication, since cats only purr in the company of living things, such as other cats, people, and other pets.

    How to Speak Dog Stanley Coren 2000

  • When your presence makes your cat purr, that is love.

    evolver Diary Entry evolver 2003

  • RK was purring, but woven into the purr was a thin stream of growly whine.

    Acorna's Search McCaffrey, Anne 2001

  • RK was purring, but woven into the purr was a thin stream of growly whine.

    Acorna's Search McCaffrey, Anne 2001

  • All they could do was cluck and purr, which is what they did for 15 solid minutes right in front of me.

    unknown title 2009

  • His comment drew a top "purr" in the "Purrs & Grrs" column of "Animal Times," the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals magazine.

    Paterson: Treat Central Park Horses Better Or Ban Them 2010

  • Then he laughs and it sounds like a kind of purr in my ear which makes me groan a little, involuntarily, knowing that we don't even know each other but he's generous enough to share a laugh, to let me see that far into him.

    Crash 2009

  • She is easily picked up and has become the "purr" ing queen.

    Holly has been returned. 2006

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • i love purring..suduko purr....

    November 29, 2009

  • sudukoinfo.com

    November 29, 2009

  • sudukosolvesinfo.com

    November 29, 2009

  • i love purring..suduko purr...

    This falls in the category of modestly amusing spam.

    November 30, 2009

  • Wonderful! Finally, “spam for spam’s sake” or “le spam pour le spam”*! I mean those URLs aren’t working for me at all! This way spam is about to replace music as the purist of the arts! Wonderful!

    * Please correct me, I don’t know any French.

    November 30, 2009

  • Well, it's probably because this particular spammer is too much of an imbecile to know that 'sudoku' is spelled 'sudoku' and not 'suduko', wouldn't you say?

    November 30, 2009

  • I personally thought that was common knowledge, provided you knew how to pronounce it.

    November 30, 2009

  • Purring is a soft, rolling call turkeys make when content.

    listen here

    March 15, 2015