cuckoo clock

noun

1. a wall or shelf clock, often carved and decorated, that announces the hours by a sound like the call of the cuckoo, usually accompanied by the appearance of an imitation bird through a little door.

cuckoo clock

noun

1. a clock in which a mechanical cuckoo pops out with a sound like a cuckoo's call when the clock strikes

Word History and Origins

Origin of cuckoo clock¹

First recorded in 1775–85

Example Sentences

“The cuckoo clock, the Dutch door, the daylight basement — humble horsemen of the domestic Apocalypse. The VWs, parked in the driveway.”

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After all, it’s not every day you find Jessica Chastain rotating on a turntable like an angry bird in a giant cuckoo clock.

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The pitched roofs of houses on the steep slopes of Sarajevo's valley look like stacks of snow-covered cuckoo clocks.

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Her latest, “Time Is a Flower,” opens with a two-page spread that shows an inquisitive child gazing up at a cuckoo clock.

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“I keep telling myself if all else fails, I can make cuckoo clocks for a living.”

Read more on Seattle Times