parrot cry

English

Etymology

From the tendency of parrots to repeat words they have heard.

Noun

parrot cry (plural parrot cries)

  1. A shout which is mindlessly or mechanically repeated.
    • 2001 August 6, Roy Hattersley, The Guardian:
      Michael Portillo as shadow chancellor will immediately leap up with the parrot-cry: "Labour always increases taxes and often invents new ones".
    • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 265:
      Parrot cries for silence on delicate political issues sounded increasingly archaic – and were quite unable to stem the rising tide of parlementary critique.
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