Link Centre Dictionary

cackle

UK/ˈkækəl/ US/ˈkækʌl/ rare slang
verb (3) noun (3)

verb

1.

talk or utter in a cackling manner

  • “The women cackled when they saw the movie star step out of the limousine”
2.
3.

emit a loud, unpleasant kind of laughing

noun

1.

the sound made by a hen after laying an egg

2.
3.

a loud laugh suggestive of a hen''s cackle

Origin

From Middle English caclen, cakelen, perhaps from Old English *caclian, *cacolian, from Proto-West Germanic *kakulōn, *kakilōn (“to cackle, gaggle, yelp, snarl”), perhaps of imitative origin. By surface analysis, cack + -le. Compare Dutch kakelen (“to cackle”), German Low German kakeln (“to cackle”), German kakeln (“to blather”), Danish kagle (“to cackle”), Swedish kackla (“to cackle”). Compare also Old English cahhetan, ċeahhettan (“to laugh loudly; cackle”), German gackern (“to cackle”).

Phrases

  • cackle bladder
  • cackle fruit
  • cackling goose

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.