hrrr hrrr.

n.  a noise indicating car trouble.

<How long before the brakes fail or the engine falls out or the transmission explodes or whatever is about to go wrong?  You can drive and drive and listen to that “hrrr, hrrr,” and all you do is wait and worry and worry and wait.  —Linda Richman, I’d Rather Laugh: How to be Happy Even When Life Has Other Plans for You.>

hrrr-hrrr.

n.  the growl of a ratel.

<Foraging, possibly disturbed ratels have been heard uttering a breathy “hrrr-hrrr” sound.  —Richard Despard Estes, The Behavior Guide to African Mammals: Including Hoofed Mammals, Carnivores, Primates.>

n.  the grunt of a badger.

<Later, when she listened to the hoot of an eagle owl, the hiss of a genet, and the hrrr-hrrr grunt of a foraging honey badger, she didn’t feel quite as confident.  The night was full of activity—some harmless, some not.  —Nancy Farmer, A Girl Named Disaster.>

n.  the sound of snoring.

<Mommy’s eyelids weren’t fluttering; she lay on her back making a hrrr-hrrr sound through her nose.  —Nancy Kress, Beggars in Spain.>

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