cackle

[kak-uh l]

See more synonyms for cackle on Thesaurus.com

verb (used without object), cack·led, cack·ling.

to utter a shrill, broken sound or cry, as of a hen.
to laugh in a shrill, broken manner.
to chatter noisily; prattle.

verb (used with object), cack·led, cack·ling.

to utter with cackles; express by cackling: They cackled their disapproval.

noun

the act or sound of cackling.
chatter; idle talk.

Origin of cackle

1175–1225; Middle English cakelen; cognate with Dutch kakelen, Low German kakeln, Swedish kackla

Related formscack·ler, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for cackle

giggle, guffaw, chortle, quack, cluck, snicker, crow, snigger, gobble, titter, gibber, chuckle, blather, burble, babble, jabber

Examples from the Web for cackle

Contemporary Examples of cackle

For most of the film I was too mortified to actually laugh out loud, but that one got a cackle from me.
Real Pilots Laugh at ‘Flight’
Patrick Smith
November 18, 2012
Kabakov is the Beckett of the art world, creating silences and divorcing himself from the cackle.
Is This Anti-Soviet Art?
Jimmy So
October 22, 2011
“I am wreaking a double vengeance,” writes Cellini, barely suppressing a cackle.
The First Celebrity Tell-All
Nathaniel Rich
September 22, 2010

Historical Examples of cackle

The detective indulged himself in a cackle of sneering merriment.
Within the Law
Marvin Dana
And now stop your clatter and go to sleep; I'm tired of hearing you cackle.
The Universal Reciter
Various
The captain looked at him dully; then, understanding, a cackle came from his throat.
Under Arctic Ice
H.G. Winter
And suddenly, unaccountably, he began to chuckle; he began to cackle noisily.
Once to Every Man
Larry Evans
A mingling of honk and cackle, it manifested not excitement so much as curiosity.
Tales of Fishes
Zane Grey

British Dictionary definitions for cackle

cackle

verb

(intr) (esp of a hen) to squawk with shrill notes
(intr) to laugh or chatter raucously
(tr) to utter in a cackling manner

noun

the noise or act of cackling
noisy chatter
cut the cackle informal to stop chattering; be quiet

Derived Formscackler, noun

Word Origin for cackle

C13: probably from Middle Low German kākelen, of imitative origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for cackle

early 13c., imitative (see cachinnation); perhaps partly based on Middle Dutch kake "jaw." Related: Cackled; cackling. As a noun from 1670s. Cackleberries, slang for "eggs" is first recorded 1880.