cuckoo
Americannoun
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a common European bird, Cuculus canorus, of the family Cuculidae, noted for its characteristic call and its brood parasitism.
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any of several other birds of the family Cuculidae.
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the call of the cuckoo, or an imitation of it.
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Slang. a crazy, silly, or foolish person; simpleton.
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
adjective
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Slang. crazy; silly; foolish.
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of, relating to, or like a cuckoo.
noun
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any bird of the family Cuculidae, having pointed wings, a long tail, and zygodactyl feet: order Cuculiformes. Many species, including the European cuckoo ( Cuculus canorus ), lay their eggs in the nests of other birds and have a two-note call
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informal an insane or foolish person
adjective
interjection
verb
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(tr) to repeat over and over
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(intr) to make the sound imitated by the word cuckoo
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cuckoo
1200–50; Middle English cuc ( c ) u, cuccuk ( e ) (imitative); compare Latin cucūlus, French coucou, German Kuckuk, Dutch koekoek, Modern Greek koûko
Explanation
A cuckoo is a type of long-tailed bird that's known for laying its eggs in the nests of other birds. In the summer, you're most likely to see cuckoos in various parts of Europe. The famous German cuckoo clock is named for the cuckoo bird, and the cuckoo sound the clock makes each hour imitates the call of the cuckoo. To make this call is also to cuckoo. Informally, you might refer to eccentric or crazy people or situations as cuckoo. Though this informal meaning is credited to American English, the word has been used to mean "stupid person" since at least the 1580s.
Vocabulary lists containing cuckoo
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Still, I support Harrelson and Stewart signing on to a project this cuckoo.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026
In Costa Rica, a rufous-vented ground cuckoo snatches a cicada fleeing an army ant swarm.
From BBC ● Mar. 25, 2026
"Switzerland has nurtured many unexpected good things -- Albert Einstein's physics, the world economy, and the cuckoo clock leap to mind -- and is again helping the world appreciate improbable people and ideas."
From Barron's ● Mar. 10, 2026
The cuckoo is a parasitic bird that deposits its eggs in the nests of other birds, who then raise its hatchlings with their own.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 4, 2025
“But even if Bathilda’s completely cuckoo, I’m sure she’d still have old photographs, maybe even letters. She knew the Dumbledores for years....Well worth a trip to Godric’s Hollow, I’d have thought.”
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
Among the more poignant moments, Charles laments the loss of wildlife at Highgrove, noting when he first moved in there nearly five decades ago he would hear cuckoos and see grasshoppers.
From Barron's ● Jan. 28, 2026
These efforts have helped protect a refuge for birds including willow flycatchers and yellow-billed cuckoos.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 26, 2024
If, for example, there are many sparrowhawk-like cuckoos or many sparrowhawks, the host birds learn over time to distinguish whether the bird in front of them is a sparrowhawk or a cuckoo.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 24, 2024
Pigeons, meanwhile, which were originally thought to be cousins with flamingos, belong to an entirely different branch and actually bear a much stronger genetic resemblance to cuckoos.
From Science Magazine ● Mar. 31, 2024
A cacophony of tick-tocks and cuckoos filled the space, and she felt like she was inside a clock itself.
From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton
When the BBC visited the London properties with the Met police, officers said squalid conditions were the norm when it comes to cuckooed premises.
From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026
She said she was cuckooed for months, and became "a prisoner in my own home".
From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026
During the week of action, 904 of these "cuckooed" homes were visited by law enforcement, and 1,138 vulnerable people were safeguarded, including 573 children.
From BBC ● May 26, 2021
When William Butler Yeats paid his first visit to that high priestess of occultism, Madame Blavatsky, the lady's pet cuckoo came out of a broken Swiss clock and cuckooed at him.
From Time Magazine Archive
The second song seems to me as irrelevant as the first," said Joscelyn, "but I observe that you cuckooed so loudly as to startle our mistress out of her inattention.
From Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard by Farjeon, Eleanor
Sgt Elise Wilson, who works closely with organisations like Positive Steps, said it was just one way cuckooing can be uncovered.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2024
Positive Steps was recently awarded £344,000 to expand its cuckooing service, which had previously only been operating with one dedicated staff member, Gillian Anderson.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2024
It had 52 cuckooing referrals last year, compared to 29 in the previous 12 months.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2024
Earlier this month, Northamptonshire Police issued an appeal to tackle the "increasing problem" of cuckooing.
From BBC ● Mar. 27, 2018
Miss Poppy eyed him as if he were a cuckoo-clock, and she had to wait till he'd finished cuckooing.
From The Lost Girl by Lawrence, D. H. (David Herbert)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
