[Echoic: cf. Da. kurren to coo, to whirr, and the verbs mentioned under CUR.] To make a low murmuring sound, like the cooing of a dove or purring of a cat. Hence Curring vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
1677. N. Cox, Gentl. Recreat., III. 57. When you have so tamed them [sc. captured nightingales] that they begin to Cur and Sweet with chearfulness, and record softly to themselves.
a. 1693. Urquhart, Rabelais, III. xiii. 107. The … curring of Pigeons … curkling of Quails.
1798. Wordsw., Idiot Boy, xxi. The owlets hoot, the owlets curr.
1855. G. Donald, in Whistle-binkie (1890), II. 87. Cheetie, Cheetie pussie … by fireside curring, Sang contented purring.
1860. Thomas, in Zoologist, X. 3651. [The note of the fern-owl] resembled … the whirring, rapid rotation of a wheel … the sounds intermixed with curring and croaking notes.
