cackle

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“
Never had he given ear to that cackle which is called Public Opinion.

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Definitions (20)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. intransitive verb To make the shrill cry characteristic of a hen after laying an egg.
  2. intransitive verb To laugh or talk in a shrill manner.
  3. transitive verb To utter in cackles: cackled a sarcastic reply.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (6)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (6)

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Examples (50)

  • With a wild cackle, the old hag was gone out the door never to be seen again. —  Challenging Destiny #18
  • It was a distinctive cackle, a “heh, heh, heh” usually associated with caricatures of dirty old men. —  Barr, Nevada - [Anna Pigeon 02] A Superior Death v1.0 HTML
  • Laura took off with a raucous cackle, her blue and crimson wings beating powerfully. —  COPYRIGHT 1940, 1947, 1948
  • I'll have to dip his hand in warm water again. * cackle* —  Planet Atheism
  • Find an unsuspecting fool's (preferably female) laptop, and set to random. * evil cackle* —  Original Signal - Transmitting Buzz
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Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

chuckle ·  giggle ·  screech ·  guffaw ·  whoop ·  titter ·  yell ·  bellow ·  cackling ·  gurgle ·  peal ·  hoot

Used in the same contextWord Family

cackle:   cackled
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English cakelen, probably from Middle Low German kākeln, of imitative origin.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English cakelen, caklen = Dutch kakelen = Middle Low German kakelen, Low German käkeln = German kakeln = Swedish kackla = Danish kagle, cackle, gaggle; closely related to English gaggle = Dutch gaggelen = German gackeln, gackern, also gacksen, cackle, cry like a goose or hen; cf. Spanish cacarear = Portuguese cacarejar, cackle, as a hen, or crow, as a cock. All imitative; cf. cachinnation, and words there mentioned, especially gaggle and giggle. See also cock.
  2. from cackle, v.
 

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/ˈkækl/
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