[f. the vb. stem: cf. Sw. kackel in same sense.]
1. A cackler. (Or ? adj. cackling.)
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 66. Uoleweð … nout þe kakele [v.r. chakele, kakelinde] Eue.
Mod. colloq. or dial. What a cackle she is!
2. Cackling; as of a hen or goose.
1674. N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., To Rdr. Why should the ears of all the neighborhood be dinn’d & grated with the Cackle, as if the whole world besides were all Weasils and Poulcats, vermine and Lurchers?
1697. Dryden, Æneis, VIII. 876 (R.).
| The Silver Goose before the shining Gate | |
| There flew; and by her Cackle, sav’d the State. |
1833. Tennyson, Goose, iii. The goose let fall a golden egs With cackle and with clatter.
3. fig. Stupid loquacity, silly chatter.
1676. ‘A. Rivetus, Jr.,’ Mr. Smirke, 18. Bedawb’d with Addle Eggs of the Animadverters own Cackle.
1859. Tennyson, Enid, 276. The rustic cackle of your bourg.
1862. Thornbury, Turner, I. 262. The cackle about Claude.
b. A short spasmodic laugh, a chuckle.
1856. Lever, Martins of Cro’ M., 410. ‘She hasn’t got a nice day for pleasuring!’ said the Jew, with a vulgar cackle.
