cackle Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the sound made by a hen after laying an egg
  2. noun noisy talk
    yack; chatter; yak; yakety-yak.
  3. noun a loud laugh suggestive of a hen's cackle
  4. verb talk or utter in a cackling manner
    • The women cackled when they saw the movie star step out of the limousine
  5. verb squawk shrilly and loudly, characteristic of hens
  6. verb emit a loud, unpleasant kind of laughing

WordNet

Cac"kle intransitive verb
Etymology
OE. cakelen; cf. LG. kakeln, D. kakelen, G. gackeln, gackern; all of imitative origin. Cf. Gagle, Cake to cackle.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Cackled present participle & verbal noun Cackling
Definitions
  1. To make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does.
    When every goose is cackling. Shak.
  2. To laugh with a broken noise, like the cackling of a hen or a goose; to giggle. Arbuthnot.
  3. To talk in a silly manner; to prattle. Johnson.
Cac"kle noun
Definitions
  1. The sharp broken noise made by a goose or by a hen that has laid an egg.
    By her cackle saved the state. Dryden.
  2. Idle talk; silly prattle.
    There is a buzz and cackle all around regarding the sermon. Thackeray.

Webster 1913