purr

«purr» in Mova's school dictionary: When a cat purrs, it makes a low, soft, rumbling sound in… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (purr, purrs, purred, purring); noun (a purr, purrs)

meaning for a pupil

1) When a cat purrs, it makes a low, soft, rumbling sound in its throat, usually when it is happy. tree →

2) A purr is that sound. tree →

3) A machine such as an engine purrs when it makes a quiet, smooth humming sound. tree →

sense in the lessons

In stories a purr tells the reader a cat is calm and content (though cats sometimes purr when hurt or scared too); for engines it means running smoothly. Phrases: «purr loudly», «a soft purr», «purr with pleasure».

examples

• The kitten purred on my lap. tree →
• I could feel the cat's purr when I stroked her. tree →
• Our cat purrs whenever you scratch behind her ears. tree →
• The new car's engine purred quietly. tree →
• Lions cannot purr, but they can roar. tree →
• She heard a gentle purr from under the blanket. tree →
• The cat purred loudly and closed its eyes. tree →
• “Nay,” purred Bagheera, “that may not be. tree →

note

Double the r before -ed and -ing: purred, purring. Do not confuse with «per» or «pur-». A purring cat is usually happy, but a sick or frightened cat may purr too, so it is not a promise you can pick it up.

In the corpora

• Tigers greet each other with a friendly puffing sound called chuffing, and they cannot purr like a house cat.
• Stroke a cat on your lap and you feel a low rumble through its body: the purr.
• It usually means a happy cat, but cats also purr when they are hurt or frightened.
• Today they curl up on our sofas and purr.
• Therefore I'm mad." Alice says "I call it purring, not growling."

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «purr» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.