| 释义 |
▪ I. cluck, n.|klʌk|
[Goes with cluck v., the imitative sound being used as both vb. and n.]
1. int. An imitation of the abrupt hollow guttural sound made by a hen desiring to sit, or calling her brood together, or of a similar sound.
1829Southey Pilgr. Compostella 11, Cluck! cluck! cried the Hen right merrily then. 1840P. Parley's Ann. 115 The clock..went cluck. ‘There,’ said his father, ‘it gives the warning; it is on the stroke of two.’
2. As a name for this sound.
1703W. Dampier Voy. III. ii. 75 They make a Noise or Cluck like our Brood-Hens when they have Chickens. 1863Johns Home Walks 35 A Blackbird..uttered a few low clucks, and..flew off. 1875Whitney Life Lang i. 3 The domestic fowl has..a cluck of maternal anticipation or care.
fig.1817Coleridge Parl. Oscillators iv, Now cluttering to the treasury cluck, like chicken.
3. a. Any similar sound; e.g. that made by a clock in ‘warning’.
1840P. Parley's Ann. 54 [The clock] gives a cluck, as much as to say, There's music for you. 1874T. Hardy Madding Crowd II. xvii. 209 The cluck of their oars was the only sound of any distinctness.
b. The click in South African languages.
4. attrib. or as adj.
1772Mrs. Harris in Lett. 1st L. Malmesbury I. 256 A blind fiddler, who spoke in a thorough cluck voice.
5. U.S. slang. A dull or unintelligent person, a fool; esp, in phr. dumb cluck. Also, an inferior or ‘dud’ thing; a counterfeit coin.
1904‘No. 1500’ Life in Sing Sing xiii. 247/1 Cluck, counterfeit coin. 1928J. P. McEvoy Show Girl x. 137 Boys, fellows, hey! Clucks, back to your corners. 1929E. Wilson I Thought of Daisy iii. 150 Get away, yuh dumb cluck! 1930Amer. Mercury Dec. 415/1 The champion cluck of all time. 1931Amer. Speech VI. 204 Dumb cluck, unintelligent, not bright person. 1934J. M. Cain Postman rings Twice vi. 59 A thing like that don't happen to a dumb cluck like him every day. 1950‘S. Ransome’ Deadly Miss Ashley iii. 30 Showing ourselves up as a fine pair of clucks.
▪ II. cluck, v.|klʌk|
[A parallel form to clock v.2 which is found in OE. (cloccian), while cluck is of much later appearance, and has not all the senses. The u forms prevail in other Teutonic langs., MHG. klucken, glucken, Ger. glucken, Da. klukke, Sw. klucka, dial. klocka. Of imitative origin: see clock v.2]
1. intr. Of fowls: To make the sound described under cluck n.
1611Cotgr., Glosser, to clucke, or clocke, as a Henne. 1687[see clucking]. 1725Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Poultry, All Hens..after they have done laying, will cluck, and for some time keep to their Nests, which is a Sign they would sit. 1791Boswell Johnson an. 1764 Making his tongue play backwards from the roof of his mouth, as if clucking like a hen. 1829Southey Pilgr. Compostella iii, The Hen she cluck'd in sympathy, And the Cock he crow'd aloud.
†2. trans. To call (chickens) by this sound. Obs.
1481Caxton Reynard v. (Arb.) 10, I [Chaunteclere]..wente to my chyldren and clucked hem to gydre. a1659Cleveland Upon a Miser 46 The Fowl whom he had cluck'd [1651 clockt] under his wing.
†b. fig. To call as a hen does her chickens.
1613Nashe Christ's T. 50 With sweet songs I haue allur'd, cluckt [ed. 1593 clockt], and wooed her to come vnder my wings. 1658Manton Exp. Jude Wks. 1871 V. 58 The turtle that chirpeth upon the church's hedges, that he may cluck sinners to himself. 1687R. L'Estrange Answ. Diss. 47 'Tis the Main Drift of his Discourse, to Cluck the Dissenters over to him, and Gather them under his Wing.
3. intr. To make a similar sound; to make the click or cluck of the Hottentots.
Hence cluck- vb. stem in combination, as † cluck-hen, see quot. and cf. clock-hen.
1598Florio, Chioccia, a clocking or sitting hen, a brood hen or a clucke hen. |