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definitions

cuckoo clock

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noun

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.

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Origin of cuckoo clock

First recorded in 1775–85
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for cuckoo clock

Historical Examples of cuckoo clock

  • Stefan showed them a magnet, and made the cuckoo-clock strike to amuse them.

  • "It is still too early," he thought, looking at the hairdresser's cuckoo-clock, that pointed to the hour of nine.

    Madame Bovary

    Gustave Flaubert

  • For quite a minute he raged silently, and any cuckoo-clock which had strayed within his reach would have had a bad time of it.

    The Girl on the Boat

    Pelham Grenville Wodehouse

  • I know, because I went to the shop Friday morning on pretence of asking for a cuckoo-clock.'

    Ghetto Comedies

    Israel Zangwill

  • Midnight struck, and the little hands of the cuckoo-clock on the mantel crept slowly round to one.

    Kidnapped at the Altar

    Laura Jean Libbey

British Dictionary definitions for cuckoo clock

cuckoo clock

noun

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