kookaburra
noun
kook·a·bur·ra ˈku̇-kə-ˌbər-ə 
-ˌbə-rə
: a brownish kingfisher (Dacelo novaeguineae synonym D. gigas) of Australia that is about the size of a crow and has a call resembling loud laughter
called also laughing jackass
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web In 2006, when the queen was eager to see a kookaburra on a trip to Australia, Ms. Kelly pranked her with a fake one. 
Rory Satran, WSJ, 8 Sep. 2022 Australia’s poppy song was written with AI trained on previous Eurovision hits along with contributions from a neural network fed samples of noises made by koalas, kookaburras and Tasmanian devils. Amy Thomson, Bloomberg.com, 24 Apr. 2020 But in a fishing village thousands of miles away, where giant goannas scuttled through gumtrees and kookaburras laughed, my siblings were hunting for wild animal scat and leaping into the ocean. New York Times, 17 Jan. 2020 There are currently at least four species at the zoo whose native habitat is Australia: a bearded dragon lizard named Six, Dundee the kookaburra, a Fly River turtle named Penny and a pair of tawny frogmouth birds called Grover and Timrek. Meg Jones, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 20 Feb. 2020 Back in our adult clothes, we were sent away with gifts of commemorative stuffed kookaburras. Sarah Lyall, New York Times, 13 Nov. 2019 And despite their sometimes-aggressive tendencies, the magpie was voted Australia’s ‘‘Bird of the Year’’ in a 2017 poll — ahead of the Australian white ibis and the laughing kookaburra. BostonGlobe.com, 17 Sep. 2019 Two kookaburras in a suburb of Australia were caught making love on a power line Wednesday afternoon until their untimely demise, which resulted in a power outage for around 1,000 homes. Joshua Bote, USA TODAY, 16 June 2019 Happy Friday, spangled kookaburras, and welcome back to another edition of This Week in Timothée Chalamet. Cady Drell, Marie Claire, 14 Sep. 2018 See More
Rory Satran, WSJ, 8 Sep. 2022 Australia’s poppy song was written with AI trained on previous Eurovision hits along with contributions from a neural network fed samples of noises made by koalas, kookaburras and Tasmanian devils. Amy Thomson, Bloomberg.com, 24 Apr. 2020 But in a fishing village thousands of miles away, where giant goannas scuttled through gumtrees and kookaburras laughed, my siblings were hunting for wild animal scat and leaping into the ocean. New York Times, 17 Jan. 2020 There are currently at least four species at the zoo whose native habitat is Australia: a bearded dragon lizard named Six, Dundee the kookaburra, a Fly River turtle named Penny and a pair of tawny frogmouth birds called Grover and Timrek. Meg Jones, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 20 Feb. 2020 Back in our adult clothes, we were sent away with gifts of commemorative stuffed kookaburras. Sarah Lyall, New York Times, 13 Nov. 2019 And despite their sometimes-aggressive tendencies, the magpie was voted Australia’s ‘‘Bird of the Year’’ in a 2017 poll — ahead of the Australian white ibis and the laughing kookaburra. BostonGlobe.com, 17 Sep. 2019 Two kookaburras in a suburb of Australia were caught making love on a power line Wednesday afternoon until their untimely demise, which resulted in a power outage for around 1,000 homes. Joshua Bote, USA TODAY, 16 June 2019 Happy Friday, spangled kookaburras, and welcome back to another edition of This Week in Timothée Chalamet. Cady Drell, Marie Claire, 14 Sep. 2018 See More Word History
Etymology
Wiradhuri (Australian aboriginal language of central New South Wales) gugubarra
First Known Use
1834, in the meaning defined above
Kids Definition
kookaburra
noun
kook·a·bur·ra ˈku̇-kə-ˌbər-ə
: an Australian bird that has a call resembling loud laughter