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Cackle

//ˈkækəl// noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg. countable, uncountable

    "I heard a grey hen cackling among the ling; I called and thought, "If I could get a sight of you now, it would be your last cackle;" just then I heard something moving behind me on the path."

  2. 2
    a loud laugh suggestive of a hen's cackle wordnet
  3. 3
    A laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    noisy talk wordnet
  5. 5
    Futile or excessively noisy talk. countable, uncountable

    "There's no time to waste on silly cackle."

Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    the sound made by a hen after laying an egg wordnet
  2. 7
    A group of hyenas. collective, countable, uncountable
Verb
  1. 1
    To make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does. intransitive

    "When every goose is cackling."

  2. 2
    emit a loud, unpleasant kind of laughing wordnet
  3. 3
    To laugh with a broken sound similar to a hen's cry. intransitive

    "The witch cackled evilly."

  4. 4
    make a cackling sound wordnet
  5. 5
    To talk in a silly manner; to prattle. intransitive

    "It is also the business of a sensible government, not to cackle on its discoveries"

Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    squawk shrilly and loudly, characteristic of hens wordnet
  2. 7
    To pretend to rattle (dice) in one's hand while gripping them so that they maintain their orientation. slang, transitive

    "Danny cackled the dice furiously in his cupped hand, then rolled them so they stopped inches from Slattery's hands. The result was the same as before – a seven."

  3. 8
    talk or utter in a cackling manner wordnet
  4. 9
    make a noise characteristic of a goose wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English caclen, cakelen, perhaps from Old English *caclian, *cacolian, from Proto-West Germanic *kakulōn, *kakilōn (“to cackle, gaggle, yelp, snarl”), perhaps of imitative origin. By surface analysis, cack + -le. Compare Dutch kakelen (“to cackle”), German Low German kakeln (“to cackle”), German kakeln (“to blather”), Danish kagle (“to cackle”), Swedish kackla (“to cackle”). Compare also Old English cahhetan, ċeahhettan (“to laugh loudly; cackle”), German gackern (“to cackle”).

Etymology 2

From Middle English caclen, cakelen, perhaps from Old English *caclian, *cacolian, from Proto-West Germanic *kakulōn, *kakilōn (“to cackle, gaggle, yelp, snarl”), perhaps of imitative origin. By surface analysis, cack + -le. Compare Dutch kakelen (“to cackle”), German Low German kakeln (“to cackle”), German kakeln (“to blather”), Danish kagle (“to cackle”), Swedish kackla (“to cackle”). Compare also Old English cahhetan, ċeahhettan (“to laugh loudly; cackle”), German gackern (“to cackle”).

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