crickets

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of cricket.

   Crickets chirped in the field long after the sun had gone down.

   The pet store sells live crickets as food for lizards and frogs.

   Note

   The -s here almost always counts insects: the bat-and-ball game is uncountable and never takes a plural, and neither does the British use for fair, sportsmanlike conduct. Soldiers' signaling devices can be counted, so crickets may mean those too. Said on its own as a whole reply, the plural becomes slang for dead silence.

2. 2
   nounslangfigurativelyhumorousCanadaUSuncountable

   Complete silence where a meaningful response is expected; no reply or communication at all, said on its own or in phrases like hear crickets.

   The senator invited questions from reporters and was met with crickets.

   We launched the app with a big ad campaign, and so far it's been crickets.

   Similarsilence

   Note

   The joke comes from film, where crickets chirping at night mean that nothing else is making a sound. It is humorous slang in the US and Canada, at home after hear or got (all we got was crickets) or standing alone as a punch line after a pause: Just… crickets. In formal writing, no response or silence does the job.

3. 3
   interjection

   Used as a mild exclamation to show that the speaker is slightly annoyed or surprised.

   Oh, crickets, the printer jammed again just as I was leaving.

   Crickets! I didn't expect to see you here so early.

   Similargosh, shoot, jeez, darn

   Note

   An exclamation that belongs with Jiminy Cricket and has nothing to do with the slang for an awkward silence. It is not new: Sarah Annie Frost's Parlor Charades and Proverbs (1859) has it, and George Ade writes Oh Crickets! in 1902. It still turns up in children's stories, and it suits a small mishap rather than real anger.

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