cackle
/ˈkak(ə)l
/verb [no object]
1(Of a bird, especially a hen or goose) give a raucous clucking cry: the hen was cackling as if demented (as adjective cackling) cackling, whooping cries...
- Some have suggested that hens cackle to announce to roosters their renewed receptivity to mating.
- And you'll not hear a pig grunting or a hen cackling in many farmyards today.
- That's why I'm pushing so hard to get side jobs now, while the goose is still cackling.
Synonyms
squawk, cluck, clack
1.1Laugh in a loud, harsh way: she cackled with laughter...
- The woman in the stall next to mine was belly laughing, cackling like a crazed hyena, heehawing at the other woman's fart.
- They pointed at the team on the field and laughed and cackled and rolled around on the floor clutching their stomachs.
- Scarlet cackled out loud and broke her embrace.
Synonyms
laugh loudly, laugh uproariously, guffaw, crow, chortle, chuckle, giggle, tee-hee
informal laugh like a drain
1.2 informal Talk at length without acting on what is said: corporate luminaries cackle on about the importance of quality...
- He cackled on about how things were to be handled while on sea, how to measure the winds strength and just about everything you did not have to know about a ship.
- He couldn't take anymore as she cackled on about how well she'd done.
- She cackled on about the places we were about to see while with one aged hand she tiredly, and with excruciating slowness, tried to open the envelope that held the key to the first apartment.
noun
1The raucous clucking cry of a bird such as a hen or a goose: ducks have a harsh growling cackle...
- Small colonies went to live in the tall ash trees in Rhue and Dawros until finally there was silence and the raucous cackle of the crows of Banada was silenced forever.
- They barely brushed together when a bird's high-pitched cackle could be heard from the trees.
- The loud cackle of the roosting birds on the trees disturbed her thought.
1.1A loud, harsh laugh: her delighted cackle...
- He bellowed a loud, insane laugh that sounded more like a cackle than a laugh and lifted his goblet, spilling wine down the front of his long, untamed beard.
- As his conversation picks its way determinedly from subject to subject, his speech is measured and occasionally punctuated by loud cackles of laughter or bursts of anger.
- Not far away some woman in a house laughs, a mad cackle of a laugh.
Phrases
cut the cackle
Origin
Middle English: probably from Middle Low German kākelen, partly imitative, reinforced by kāke 'jaw, cheek'.