To make a peculiar noise by placing the tongue against the roof of the mouth, to urge horses on.
He painted a horse-rider cheering and chirking his horse, yet reining him hard as he champed upon his bit.--Holland, Pliny, B. 35, ch. 10.
CHIRK
Lively; cheerful; in good spirits; in a comfortable state; as when one enquires about a sick person, it is said, he is chirk. The word is wholly lost except in New England.--Webster. It is doubtless derived from the old verb to chirk (Ang. Sax. cercian), i. e. to chirp, which is found in old English writers.
Afore I had mixed a second glass of switchel, up they came, and the General looked as chirk and lively as a skipper.--Maj. Downing's Letters.