cluck

cluck

See also: Cluck

English

Alternative forms

• clutch (dialectal)
• clock

Etymology

From Middle English clokken, clocken, from Old English cloccian (“to cluck, make a noise”), from Proto-Germanic *klukkwōną (“to make a sound, cluck”), of imitative origin. Cognate with Scots clok, clock (“to cluck”), Dutch klokken (“to cluck”), Low German klucken (“to cluck”), German glucken (“to cluck”), Danish klukke (“to cluck”), Swedish klucka (“to cluck”), Icelandic klökkva (“to sob, whine, cluck”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /klʌk/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌk

Noun

cluck (plural clucks)

1. The sound made by a hen, especially when brooding, or calling her chicks.
2. Any sound similar to this.
3. A kind of tongue click used to urge on a horse.

Derived terms

• dumb cluck

Translations

sound made by hen

Bulgarian: кудкудякане n (kudkudjakane) Catalan: escataineig (ca) m Dutch: gekakel (nl) n Finnish: kotkotus (fi) French: gloussement (fr) German: Gackern n Greek: κακάρισμα (el) n (kakárisma), κοκό (el) n (kokó) Hungarian: kotkodácsolás Ido: kluko (io) Italian: chioccio (it) m Macedonian: кокода́ (kokodá), квак (kvak) Maori: kotokoto, ketekete Polish: gdakanie (pl) Portuguese: cacarejo (pt) m Romanian: cotcodăcit (ro) n, cloncănit (ro) n Russian: куда́хтанье (ru) n (kudáxtanʹje), куд-куд-куда́х m (kud-kud-kudáx) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: кокодакање n Roman: kokodakanje (sh) n Spanish: cloqueo (es) m, clo (es) m Swedish: kackel (sv) n Tagalog: kurok Turkish: gıdaklama (tr) Vietnamese: cục cục

any similar sound

Finnish: kotkotus (fi) Romanian: cotcodăcit (ro) n, cloncănit (ro) n

tongue click to urge on a horse

Dutch: klakken (nl) Finnish: maiskautus Macedonian: ва́бење n (vábenje) Serbo-Croatian: цоктање n, coktanje n

Verb

cluck (third-person singular simple present clucks, present participle clucking, simple past and past participle clucked)

1. (intransitive) To make such a sound.
   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, H.L. Brækstad, transl., Folk and Fairy Tales, page 72:

     "I came across him once," he continued, "when he was playing down on the main road to Skaug; there he sat in the middle of the road with a lot of hens around him, I counted seven, and there were more round about in the wood, for I heard them clucking and calling behind every bush."

2. (transitive) To cause (the tongue) to make a clicking sound.

   My mother clucked her tongue in disapproval.

3. To call together, or call to follow, as a hen does her chickens.
   • c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene iii]:

     When she, poor hen, fond of no second brood,
     Has clucked thee to the wars and safely home.

4. (Britain, drug slang) to suffer withdrawal from heroin.

Derived terms

• cluck one's tongue

Translations

to produce cluck sound

Bulgarian: кудкудякам (kudkudjakam) Catalan: cloquejar (ca) Dutch: kakelen (nl), klakken (nl) Esperanto: gaki Finnish: kotkottaa (fi) French: glousser (fr) German: gackern (de) Greek: κακαρίζω (el) (kakarízo) Ido: klukar (io) Latin: gracillō, glocio, glocido, glocito Maori: kotokoto, ketekete Middle English: clokken Norman: clioutchi, couarder, crocheter, queûqu'ter Polish: gdakać (pl) Portuguese: cacarejar (pt) Russian: куда́хтать (ru) impf (kudáxtatʹ) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: кокодакати Roman: kokodakati (sh) Spanish: cloquear (es) Swedish: kackla (sv) Turkish: gıdaklamak (tr)

See also

• cackle