pitter-patter

1. uncountableA soft, percussive sound, as of tiny feet, or of rain on a rooftop; patter.

   Pitter-patter the rain falling down / Little glamor sun coming round / Take a walk when autumn comes to town

   1973, Van Morrison, “Autumn Song”

   2 more examples

   Once or twice I heard a faint pitter-patter like the feet of the dog going hither and thither on the sand far below me, and there were more bird-like sounds, but that was all.

   1895–1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Stillness”, in The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, published 1898, →OCLC, book II (The Earth under the Martians), page 237

   This yearning to hear the pitter-patter of penguin feet is no sudden whim. When a teen-ager, I entertained thoughts of the two of us walking side-by-side on the beach or strolling through shopping centers. As time passed, I knew I must take action or go penguinless through life.

   1970 April 19, Pat McDonnell, “Project Penguin fowls out”, in Independent Press-Telegram, volume 19, number 36, Long Beach, Calif., →OCLC, page W-1, column 2

present singular third person pitter-patters · participle present pitter-pattering · participle past pitter-pattered · past pitter-pattered

1. intransitiveTo patter; to scurry.

   The rain was coming down heavier now, the drops pitter-pattering on the roof of the truck.

   1996, Stephen Leather, The Double Tap, BCA, page 97