verb (used without object), cack·led, cack·ling.
- to utter a shrill, broken sound or cry, as of a hen.
- to laugh in a shrill, broken manner.
- to chatter noisily; prattle.
verb (used with object), cack·led, cack·ling.
- to utter with cackles; express by cackling: They cackled their disapproval.
noun
- the act or sound of cackling.
- chatter; idle talk.
verb
- (intr) (esp of a hen) to squawk with shrill notes
- (intr) to laugh or chatter raucously
- (tr) to utter in a cackling manner
noun
- the noise or act of cackling
- noisy chatter
- cut the cackle informal to stop chattering; be quiet
early 13c., imitative (see cachinnation); perhaps partly based on Middle Dutch kake “jaw.” Related: Cackled; cackling. As a noun from 1670s. Cackleberries, slang for “eggs” is first recorded 1880.