Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A large kingfisher (Dacelo novaeguineae) of southern and eastern Australia, having brown and white plumage and a call resembling raucous laughter. Also called laughing jackass.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The native name adopted as a common name for the laughing-jackass, Dacelo gigas, a large species of kingfisher. The name is extensively used about Sydney and is given by E. P. Ramsay in his “Catalogue of Australian Birds.” See cut under Dacelo.
Wiktionary
- n. Any of several species of kingfishers in the genus Dacelo, known for their laugh-like call.
WordNet 3.0
- n. Australian kingfisher having a loud cackling cry
Etymologies
- From Wiradhuri gugubarra ("Dacelo novaeguineae"). (Wiktionary)
- Wiradhuri (Aboriginal language of southeast Australia) gugubarra, of imitative origin. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Photo post: Hewitson 1853 Mourvedre – and Orlando (and a kookaburra) | Dr Vino's wine blog”
Photo post: Hewitson 1853 Mourvedre – and Orlando (and a kookaburra) | Dr Vino's wine blog
“Photo post: Hewitson 1853 Mourvedre – and Orlando (and a kookaburra)”
Photo post: Hewitson 1853 Mourvedre – and Orlando (and a kookaburra) | Dr Vino's wine blog
“We visited the vineyard at dusk and on the way back to the car, I heard a kookaburra laugh echo across the vineyard.”
Photo post: Hewitson 1853 Mourvedre – and Orlando (and a kookaburra) | Dr Vino's wine blog
“For all you birders out there, you can see/hear the kookaburra here.”
Photo post: Hewitson 1853 Mourvedre – and Orlando (and a kookaburra) | Dr Vino's wine blog
“I have plans to restock it with fish (AKA kookaburra buffet) and lilies etc when things calm down after Xmas.”
“There is a slightly odd piece in the current issue of the New Yorker in which David Sedaris describes an intimate encounter not so long ago with a tame kookaburra over lunch in Daylesford, Victoria.”
“Note the earliest (and correct) form of words: The kookaburra sits on, and not in, the old gum tree, a subtle distinction, certainly, but one that gives that muscular bird a slight hint of dominance, as befits the king of the bush designation that follows in the next line.”
“As the party was looking on, a Laughing Jackass [kookaburra] sat gazing down in respectful silence, with no desire to show disloyalty by breaking out into a premier chuckle at the rather amusing scene.”
“The one about a kookaburra bird in an old gum tree.”
“She has added kookaburra and snake to her animal noise repertoire thanks to a possum magic board book she got for her birthday.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘kookaburra’.
-
Of Imitative Origin
Words formed in imitation of the sound of the things they signify.
bawl, biff, blizzard, blob, blooper, bob, boff, bomb, bonkers, boo, borborygmus, brouhaha and 148 more...
-
birds
birds with singular names from
at least 9 English dictionariesaasvogel, aberdevine, accentor, accipiter, aepyornis, agami, albatross, alcatras, alcid, alcidine, amadavat, amokura and 1056 more...
-
Silly-sounding words
Serious words that sound silly when you say them
philosophunculist, argy-bargy, Labradoodle, shittah, shittim, floccinaucinihili..., succedaneum, honorificabilitud..., fag-ma-fuff, buffarilla, yazzihamper, mammothrept and 140 more...
-
Creatures of My Town 2
Critters observed by me in and around Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Native wildlife only.
corella, pademelon, swift parrot, Pacific gull, kookaburra, silver gull, black swan, bettong, pied oystercatcher, cormorant, possum, green rosella
-
Animal kings
crocodilian, lagomorph, ovine, bovine, lupine, minatory, arthropod, zoömimetic, nag, pronk, entomology, buffalo and 34 more...
-
Pseudodemons
Potential dukes, duchesses, and chief petty officers of hell.
Inspired by whichbe's demongering.ashgabat, súrsaðir hrútspungar, arrghus, spizzerinctum, duniewassal, xiphiplastron, agassiz, thrombokinase, squalus suckleyi, rauwolfia serpentina, pipistrelle, qualtagh and 66 more...
-
LWC's Words
spork, heteroskedasticity, kurtosis, eigenspace, smithian, skewness, montanan, whoremonger, mellifluous, fishwife, papist, romanist and 142 more...
-
i don't like cricket, i love it
Words without which cricket could not be.
keeper, stumper, bad light stopped..., wicket keeper, rain stopped play, sight screen, bodyline, leg bye, duck, duckworth-lewis, t20, one-day game and 245 more...
-
elizacole's Words
isomorphic, endemic, tmesis, fillip, antedate, avoirdupois, jeremiad, hypnagogic, antediluvian, fuck, reification, raconteur and 251 more...
-
sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
-
Hedgepiglet
Words for things both tangible and nonanthropic
rorqual, vellus, wrasse, rainbow bee-eater, tinkershire, lemonquat, boomslang, tufted vetch, cubeb, nipplefruit, madapple, wad and 447 more...
-
Fun Words
Words that have funny meanings or are just fun to say.
kumquat, chimichanga, sarsparilla, rutabaga, rumpus, flummox, encrusted, prestidigitation, pomegranate, preposterous, dentiloquist, sepulchre and 323 more...
-
librarygoblin's words
crystal, ghost, mist, snow, labyrinth, citadel, tomb, mystery, arcane, conundrum, echo, dynamo and 389 more...
-
Stately Animals
Animals and birds of nations and states. Also see Stately Plants
lion, eagle, fennec fox, dragon, blue whale, magnificent friga..., cougar, kangaroo, emu, black eagle, orca whale, flamingo and 233 more...
-
aozuas's Words
sense data, hyperreality, brouhaha, ibid, apophenia, fnord, lackadaisical, schadenfreude, bildungsroman, ready-made, readymade, tergiversar and 654 more...
-
Still More Bird Wirds
A work in progress....Birds from around the world (other than endemic to North America).
barbet, hornbill, trogon, bee-eater, bristlehead, wren-babbler, stubtail, blackeye, bush warbler, cassowary, bowerbird, bird-of-paradise and 722 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for kookaburra.
chained_bear A large, arboreal, brown kingfisher, Dacelo novæ-guineæ, distinguished by its peculiar laughing cry; formerly called the GOBURRA and also called the laughing jackass.
What a coincidence... Though I have never been called a kookaburra, I have on occasion been called "the laughing jackass." Feb 6, 2007