cluck

¹

[kluhk]

verb (used without object)

1. to utter the cry of a hen brooding or calling her chicks.

2. to make a similar sound; express concern, approval, etc., by such a sound.

verb (used with object)

1. to call or utter by clucking.

noun

1. the sound uttered by a hen when brooding, or in calling her chicks.

2. any clucking sound.

cluck

²

[kluhk]

noun

Slang.

1. a dull-witted, stupid person; blockhead; dolt.

cluck

/ klʌk /

noun

1. the low clicking sound made by a hen or any similar sound

verb

1. (intr) (of a hen) to make a clicking sound

2. (tr) to call or express (a feeling) by making a similar sound

Word History and Origins

Origin of cluck¹

1475–85; variant of clock ¹ (now dial. and Scot), Middle English clokken, Old English cloccian to cluck; cognate with Dutch klokken

Origin of cluck²

1900–05, special use of cluck ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of cluck¹

C17: of imitative origin

Example Sentences

The baroness clucked her tongue in mock sympathy.

Read more on Literature

With a few clucks and some skillful handling of the reins, he urged the horse to pull their carriage sideways, blocking the way.

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“The difference is the facts,” Mr. Smith clucked.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

“Suddenly with a plop, the egg landed on the straw. With clucks of pleasure the hen shook her feathers, nudged the egg with her beak, and left,” Goodall wrote almost 60 years later.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Even a peep of news about a new flu pandemic is enough to set scientists clucking about eggs.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• coo