meep

English

Etymology

Imitative

Pronunciation

• enPR: mēp, IPA^(key): /miːp/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -iːp

Interjection

meep (onomatopoeia)

1. imitating a small animal's cry, particularly a kitten or small bird

   Synonyms: (kitten) mew, (cat) meow, (baby bird) peep, (bird) chirp

   • ???, Viktor Astafyev, Meep the Baby Martin, published in Soviet Literature: Issues 7-12 in 1983:

     "Meep, meep, meep!" echoed his brothers and sisters. They all felt pleased with themselves for having learnt to call their mother [...]

   • 2006, Dave Bidini, The Five Hole Stories, page 62:

     "We gave him three nervous breakdowns, you know," he says, waving his fingers in the rear view.
     "Listen, I..."
     "I've heard this kind of thing before. The English think the French are little blind dogs. Meep meep meep meep meep," he says, performing a talking pantomime with his hand.

   • 2006, Sir Terry Pratchett, Wintersmith; Corgi edition, published in 2007, page 222:

     'Granny, your hat squeaked,' said Tiffany. 'It went meep!'

     'No it didn’t,' Granny said sharply.

     'It did, you know,' said Nanny Ogg. 'I heard it, too.'

     Granny Weatherwax grunted and pulled off her hat. The white kitten, curled around her tight bun of hair, blinked in the light.

2. imitating a small vehicle's high pitched horn

   Synonym: beep

3. (informal) expressing surprise, dismay, fear, or concern

   See Thesaurus:wow

See also

• eep
• eek
• peep

Noun

meep (plural meeps) (onomatopoeia, informal)

1. A high-pitched exclamation of fear or concern.
   • 2013, Megan Hart, Precious and Fragile Things, page 407:

     Gilly cradled her daughter close, even when the baby let out a “meep” of protest before getting back to the business of nursing.

Verb

meep (third-person singular simple present meeps, present participle meeping, simple past and past participle meeped) (onomatopoeia)

1. to make a high-pitched exclamation
   • 1968, Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey, I Primeval Night, 2 The New Rock, page 11:

     Her companions gathered round her, twittering and meeping sympathetically, but there was nothing that anyone could do.

   • 2005, John Gardner, October Light, page 126:

     He cried out, as if he meant it as a joke, "When I was Richard's age I nearly died of pneumonia." "Darling, it is cold," Ariah meeped, and put her mitten on his.

   • 2005, Rachel Caine, Chill Factor, page 103:

     "See that guy down there?" Jonathan asked, and tilted my chair up on its front legs to give me a better view. I meeped and clutched the chair arms harder. "No? Well, okay, granted, they all look alike from up here. Here, I'll help." My forehead touched the glass. It rippled like water, and I melted right through the slick, cold surface, [...]

   • 2007, Pat Schmatz, Circle the Truth, page 188:

     Rith stayed where he was, watching the silhouette of the cat in the darkness. She sat perfectly still and watched him back. Then she meeped and looked at the stairs.

Anagrams

• PMEE