cuckoo

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (2)  · 
“
On the whole, our cuckoo is a friend to the farmer, for it destroys vast quantities of hairy caterpillars that no other bird, resident or migratory, would touch.

View all »
Definitions (15)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. noun A grayish European bird (Cuculus canorus) that has a characteristic two-note call and lays its eggs in the nests of birds of other species.
  2. noun Any of various related birds of the family Cuculidae, having grayish-brown plumage and a slender body.
  3. noun The call or cry of one of these birds.
3 more from this dictionary »

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (5)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (3)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • The Maculina rebeli is know as the cuckoo butterfly because, like the bird, it fools a different species into feeding and caring for its young —  Home | Mail Online
  • The once-common cuckoo is among British birds in serious decline, conservationists warn today. —  EcoEarth.Info Environment RSS Newsfeed
  • This inquiry I proposed to myself to make with a fern-fowl, or goat-sucker, as soon as opportunity offered: because, if their formation proves the same, the reason for incapacity in the cuckoo will be allowed to have been taken up somewhat hastily Not long after a fern-owl was procured, which, from its habit and shape, we suspected might resemble the cuckoo in its internal construction. —  The Natural History of Selborne, Vol. 2
  • Even the eggs acquire, in the process of natural selection, the color of the place where they are deposited, and the cuckoo which is about to cheat a couple of another species by placing her eggs in their nest for them to hatch selects that species the color of whose eggs most closely resembles that of her own, in order to assure herself of the success of the deception. —  Studies in Forensic Psychiatry
  • And as he watched them from the shadow by the door, the maidens stayed their grinding for a while to rest The greedy man could not bear to see even an instant's pause, and he came out of the shadow, and bade them, with harsh words, go on grinding, and cease not except for so long as the cuckoo was silent, or while he himself sang a song. —  Stories to Tell Children Fifty-Four Stories With Some Suggestions For Telling
More examples »
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 158 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
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

magpie ·  sparrow ·  blackbird ·  jay ·  lark ·  dove ·  quail ·  nightingale ·  thrush ·  parrot ·  peacock ·  pigeon

Used in the same contextWord Family

cuckoo:   cuckoos
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 (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English cuccu, of imitative origin.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Early modern English also cuckoe, cuckow; from Middle English cucko, cukkow, cocow, cockou, coccou, in earliest form cuccu (partly from Old French), = Middle Dutch kockock, kockkock, kuyckuck, kuyckkuyck, Dutch kockock = North Friesic kukuut = Old Low German cuccuc, Middle High German kuckuck, kukuk, Low German kuckuck, kukuk = Middle High German cukuk, also gukuk, gukuck, gukguk, gugguk, German kuckuck, kuckuk, gukguck, usually kukuk, = Danish kukker = Swedish kuku (the Teutonic forms being partly conformed to the L. and Roman); = Old French coucou, cocu, French coucou = Provencal cogul (cf. cocuc, the cuckoo's cry) = Spanish cnco, also diminutive cucillo, = Portuguese cuco = Italian cucco, also cucolo, cuculo, cucuglio, coccolo, from Middle Latin cucus, L. only in diminutive form cuculus, a cuckoo (cf. Latin cucus, a daw); = Greek κόκκυξ (see coccyx), Middle Greek κοῦκος, New Greek κοῦκο; = Welsh cwcw, also cog, = Gaelic Irish cuach, also cubhag; = Old Bulgarian kukavitsa = Servian kukavitsa, = Bohemian kukachka = Polish kukulka = Russian kukushka = Albanian kukatvitse (cf. Russian kukovati, cry as a cuckoo, kukati, murmur, = Bohemian Servian kukati = Lithuanian kaukti = Lettish kaukt, howl); = Sanskrit kokila (later Hindustani kokila, kokla), a cuckoo; cf. Hindustani kūk, the cry of a cuckoo or peacock, kuku, the cooing of a dove, koko, a crow; also found in older Teutonic form (Old High German Middle High German gouch, German gauch = Anglo-Saxon geác = Icelandic gaukr, later English gawk, a cuckoo: see gowk) and in many other tongues, in various forms of the type kuku, being a direct imitation of the characteristic cry of the bird. A similar imitation occurs also in coo, cook, cock, caw, etc. (see these words). The forms, being imitative, do not conform closely to the rules of historical development. In early superstitions the cuckoo was regarded as of evil omen, and enters into various imprecations and proverbs as an embodiment of the devil. It was also a term of reproach or contempt equivalent to fool (cf. gowk, in similar use), and with reference to its habit of laying its eggs in other birds' nests is the subject of endless allusion in early literature: see cuckold.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/ˈkəku/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about twice a month.

Recently looked up

seis · madras · ocelli · treatises · facet

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

Der dicke Dachdecker deckte dir dein Dach, drum dank dem dicken Dachdecker, dass der dicke Dachdecker dir dein Dach deckte. · weitläufig · und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, so leben sie noch heute · redescheu · selbstverständlich