cluck

Everyday

1. (verb) When a hen clucks, she makes her short, low, repeated sound. tree →
2. (noun) That sound a hen makes. tree →
3. (verb) To make a clicking sound with your tongue to show you disapprove, are sorry or are worried: «Mum clucked her tongue». tree →
4. (verb) To fuss over someone in a worried, caring way, like a mother hen: «cluck over the baby». tree →
5. (noun, slang, US, old) A silly or stupid person: «You dumb cluck!» tree →

In the lessons

In farm topics and animal sounds in early reading: cows moo, hens cluck. In stories «clucked her tongue» shows an adult who is unhappy, worried or sympathetic; «clucked over» shows someone fussing. Phrases: «cluck your tongue», «cluck over», «cluck and fuss», «cluck-cluck».

Examples

• The hens clucked happily in the farmyard. tree →
• We heard a cluck from inside the henhouse. tree →
• Gran clucked her tongue when she saw my muddy shoes. tree →
• The aunties clucked over the new baby all afternoon. tree →
• Cluck, cluck, went the chicken as it pecked the corn. tree →
• The teacher clucked sympathetically when I told her about my lost dog. tree →
• In the old cartoon, the sailor called his friend a dumb cluck. tree →
• “No, no!” clucked the elder bird. tree →

Note

The word copies the sound itself (onomatopoeia), like «moo» and «quack». A hen clucks; a rooster crows; chicks cheep. «Cluck» (sound) and «clock» (time) sound different. «Dumb cluck» is old-fashioned and a bit unkind.