a. A short, sharp vocal sound produced by the sudden withdrawal of the tongue from the soft palate (e.g. as used to urge a horse forward) or nearer the hard palate or teeth (as used to express disapproval, irritation, commiseration, etc.; cf. tsk int., tut int.). Cf. click n.¹ 5b.

b. Any of a class of speech sounds, generally common only in languages of southern Africa (in particular the Khoisan language family), articulated by creating two closures within the mouth, one at the soft palate and one made further forward with the tongue or lips, then enlarging the cavity made by these closures (by lowering the tongue or protruding the lips) and releasing the forward closure to produce a sound; = click n.¹ 5a. Now rare.Click is now the usual term.

a. A thing of poor quality; something worthless, a ‘dud’; a counterfeit or fake. Now rare.

b. A stupid, inept, or unsuccessful person.Frequently in dumb cluck n.

a. transitive. Of a hen: to summon, attract, or gather together (chicks) by making its characteristic call (see sense 1b). Also used occasionally of other birds. Cf. clock v.¹ 2a. Now rare.

b. intransitive. Of a hen: to make its characteristic short, hollow, guttural sound, esp. when broody or calling to its chicks; = clock v.¹ 1. Also used occasionally of other birds.

†a. transitive. Of a person: to summon (a person), esp. in a protective or proprietorial way; to attract or gather together (a group of people) by speaking persuasively. Also occasionally (and in earliest use) intransitive. Cf. clock v.¹ 2b. Obsolete.Often in similative or metaphorical use, with allusion to sense 1a.

b. intransitive. Of a person: to show anxious concern; to give someone or something a lot of attention, esp. unwanted attention; to fuss over someone or something; to bustle around.Cf. mother hen n. at mother n.¹ Compounds 7, a hen with one chick (also chicken) at hen n.¹ Phrases 2.

†a. intransitive. Of a person: to produce a click (click n.¹ 5a), a speech sound found chiefly in Khoisan and some Nguni languages of southern Africa; cf. clock v.¹ 3. Obsolete.

b. intransitive. Of a person: to produce a short, sharp vocal sound by suddenly withdrawing the tongue from the soft palate (e.g. as used to urge a horse forward) or nearer the hard palate or teeth (as used to express disapproval, irritation, commiseration, etc.; cf. tut v., cluck n. 1a).Also reduplicated to indicate repetition: cf. tut-tut, tsk-tsk vb. at tsk int. Derivatives.

c. transitive. to cluck one's tongue (also teeth) : to produce a clucking sound with the tongue against the hard palate or teeth, esp. to express disapproval, irritation, or commiseration, or to call or urge forward an animal. Cf. cluck n. 1a, to click one's tongue at click v.¹ 4a.

d. intransitive. Of a person's tongue: to make a cluck of disapproval, irritation, commiseration, etc., typically while engaged in idle chatter. Cf. clack v.¹ 1.In quot. 1916 probably used more broadly, with reference to idle or inconsequential chatter resembling the clucking of a chicken.