To make a purring or churring sound, like a cat or certain birds; to rumble or growl gently.
From imitative origins, likely Old English or Germanic; the word imitates the actual sound being described, common in many languages for animal vocalizations.
Onomatopoeia like 'curr' show how ancient humans named sounds by mimicking them—the word hasn't fundamentally changed in form for over a thousand years because it literally IS the sound.
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