Hypertext Webster Gateway: "cackle"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Cackle \Cac"kle\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Cackled} (-k'ld); p. pr.
& vb. n. {Cackling}.] [OE. cakelen; cf. LG. kakeln, D.
kakelen, G. gackeln, gackern; all of imitative origin. Cf.
{Gagle}, {Cake} to cackle.]
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.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Cackle \Cac"kle\, n.
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.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
cackle
n 1: the sound made by a hen after laying an egg
2: noisy talk [syn: {yak}, {yack}, {yakety-yak}, {chatter}]
3: a loud laugh suggestive of a hen's cackle
v 1: talk or utter in a cackling manner; "Hello!," the women
cackled when they saw the movie star step out of the
limousine.
2: squawk shrilly and loudly, characteristic of hens
3: emit a loud, unpleasant kind of laughing
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