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  1. chuckle love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. v. To laugh quietly or to oneself.
  2. v. To cluck or chuck, as a hen.
  3. n. A quiet laugh of mild amusement or satisfaction.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. To make a clucking sound, as a hen.
  2. To laugh in a suppressed, covert, or sly manner; express inward satisfaction, derision, or exultation by subdued laughter.
  3. To call by chucking or clucking, as a hen her chicks.
  4. as a chuckle.
  5. n. The call of a hen to her young; a cluck.
  6. n. A sly suppressed laugh, expressive of satisfaction, exultation, or the like; hence, any similar sound.
  7. To chuck under the chin; fondle.
  8. To rock upon its center while rotating, as the runner of a grinding-mill.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A quiet laugh.
  2. v. To laugh quietly or inwardly.
  3. v. archaic Sounds made by chicken.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. v. obsolete To call, as a hen her chickens; to cluck.
  2. v. obsolete To fondle; to cocker.
  3. n. A short, suppressed laugh; the expression of satisfaction, exultation, or derision.
  4. v. To laugh in a suppressed or broken manner, as expressing inward satisfaction, exultation, or derision.

WordNet 3.0

  1. v. laugh quietly or with restraint
  2. n. a soft partly suppressed laugh

Etymologies

  1. Probably frequentative of chuck3. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “* chuckle, chuckle* by Tom Murphy on Monday, Dec 8, 2008 at 2: 53: 02 PM”

    OpEdNews - Quicklink: New World Trade Center Collapse Videos

  • “Thompson is such a wry, friendly presence that his every utterance draws a chuckle from the faithful (most of the time a deserved one, though sometimes he'll say "thanks" and they'll still be in stitches).”

    The Huffington Post: Michael Giltz: Music: Richard Thompson at Town Hall

  • “What makes me chuckle is how Microsoft Excel has become the modern-day weapon of choice for any discerning would-be Senior Leadership Team ‘member’ – there are spreadsheets for this, spreadsheets for that – hell, they probably even have starched spreadsheets on their beds.”

    Names Will Never Hurt You « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG

  • “Also recommended, if you like a good chuckle is his Nobel-nominated novel “The Phases of Harry Moon,” which you can find if you look.”

    Happy Birthday Stephen King and H. G. Wells...

  • “The latest chuckle from the radical right lobbying group "Family Research Council", via their email update list today: In a tale of ironic tragedy a new study reveals that the Democratic Party is literally killing its political base.”

    06/30/2004

  • “HOUSTON Jake Delhomme has to laugh, a Cajun chuckle from the heart.”

    USATODAY.com - Leadership: Davis inspires on both sides of ball

  • “They expected to get dashed to death at the bottom as they went flying down past the different floors, and heard a fiendish chuckle from the Frenchman above their heads.”

    The Bradys and the Girl Smuggler or, Working for the Custom House

  • “Falco's hooker-girlfriend wants enough money to send her son to a decent school; the john whom Falco sets her up with only wants a "chuckle" - a moment of sexual fun to help him forget who he is.”

    Eurozine articles

  • “Space dust hasn’t changed much over time and there isn’t much of it (Alley’s deadpan delivery of this line raised a chuckle from the audience).”

    2009 December | Serendipity

  • “February 8th, 2010 at 10: 04 am well i got a chuckle from the story. what i laughed at more was the complaints about what is good and not good fiction and what should and shouldn’t be published on the EDF web site. i didn’t realize that commenting on EDF policy constituted constructive critism for the author. laura Says:”

    AUGAN ISMIC • by Douglas Pugh

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synonyms (8)

Words with the same meaning

  1. fondle
  1. cocker
  1. laugh
  1. blockhead
  1. chortle
  1. giggle
  1. titter
  1. snigger

hypernyms (4)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. laugh
  1. express mirth
  1. express joy
  1. laughter

same context (19)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. laugh
  2. giggle
  3. gasp
  1. grunt
  2. whisper
  3. growl
  1. shrug
  2. smirk
  3. grimace
  1. cackle
  2. sneer
  3. undertone
  1. cough
  2. croak
  3. twinkle
  1. howl
  2. wink
  3. shout
  1. squeal

rhymes (6)

Words with the same terminal sound

  1. buckle
  1. huckle
  1. knuckle
  1. muckle
  1. ruckle
  1. suckle

reverse dictionary (9)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. shuckle
  1. keckle
  1. to hug one's self
  1. chuck
  1. chortle
  1. chuckleheaded
  1. cockle-brained
  1. portmanteau word
  1. chuckle

tags (10)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. words
  2. laughter
  1. abuse
  2. stephenie meyer
  1. twilight
  2. overuse
  1. repeat
  2. thesaurus
  1. writer
  2. sucks

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Word visualization

Lists

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Comments

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  • Louises See susurrations Mar 25, 2012

  • john The part of the pig between the tail and anus, according to Kenneth. Nov 25, 2009

  • thesaraheffect I would consider snicker a much more malicious kind of laughter than chuckle though neither is particularly desirable. Why is it that laughter-related words are nearly universally unpleasant? guffaw, cackle, snigger, titter, chortle Sep 17, 2009

  • ipodrulz When I think "chuckle" I think man version of "giggle". Either way it's an awesome word. Apr 21, 2009

  • reesetee That's it--someone has to add manlaughter to his/her Wordie list. May 23, 2007

  • uselessness It's not something I've really given much thought to. I suppose it's somewhat gender-neutral, meaning anyone can do it... but when I say girly I guess I'm thinking of a quiet, shy type of laugh, similar to a giggle, a characteristic of girlishness. Maybe that's my patriarchal bias. ;-)

    Though I would submit that snicker is a good word for mildly amused manlaughter. May 23, 2007

  • rawles That's odd that you see it in reference to feminine laughter since I almost exclusively see it used (and perceive it) in reference to men. Essentially, it's the masculine version of a giggle. It actually bothers me a lot because, in writing, I'm often compelled to use "chuckle" even though I dislike the word because I can't really think of another one for mildly amused manlaughter. May 23, 2007

  • uselessness I agree. Funny though, usually when I see this word it's in reference to a cute little restrained girly-type laugh, and yet for me it conjures images of horror-movie clowns freakishly popping out of darkened corners. Perhaps because of the similarity in names, I also think of Chucky from Child's Play. May 21, 2007

  • rawles Blech. The use of this word evokes a laugh that is both smug and vaguely sinister. Auditorily, it's a very wet, guttural word, akin to coughing up phlegm. May 20, 2007

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‘chuckle’ has been looked up 3765 times, loved by 1 person, added to 42 lists, commented on 9 times, and has a Scrabble score of 18.