Chanticleer
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A domestic rooster or cock, especially in fables and fairy tales. archaic, literary
"When I did hear / The motley fool, thus moral on the time, / My lungs began to crow like chanticleer, / That fools should be so deep-contemplative[…]."
- 1 To make the crowing sound of a cock.
- 2 To crow in exultation.
Example
More examples"When I did hear / The motley fool, thus moral on the time, / My lungs began to crow like chanticleer, / That fools should be so deep-contemplative[…]."
Etymology
] From Middle English Chauntecleer, from Old French Chantecler (modern French Chanteclair), the proper name of the cock in the literary cycle of Reynard the Fox, that also gave origin to chantecler, the name of a chicken breed; from chanter (“to sing, to crow”) + cler (“clear, clearly”). Attested in English since 1250–1300.
Related phrases
More for "chanticleer"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.