In 6 chak. [In sense 1 imitative of the sound and action; cf. clack; senses 2 and 3 may be distinct words.]
1. Sc. To snap with the teeth; to squeeze or crush with a snap of the jaws or by the sudden shutting of a window, door, drawer, or the like; also to make a noise like that of snapping teeth, to clack, clatter, click.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XII. xii. 152. With hys wyd chaftis at hym makis a snak The byt oft falȝeis for ocht he do mycht And chakkis waist togiddir his wapynnis wycht.
1536. Bellenden, Cron. Scot. (1821), II. 390. The cais chakkit to suddanlie, but ony motion or werk of mortall creaturis.
1697. W. Cleland, Poems, 35 (Jam.). Some’s teeth for cold did chack and chatter.
1801. Hogg, Scot. Pastoral, 23 (Jam.). For … chackin’ mice, and houkin’ moudies, His match was never made.
2. ‘Used of a horse that beats upon the hand when his head is not steady; but he tosses up his nose, and shakes it all of a sudden, to avoid the subjection of the bridle’ (Bailey, Vol. II. 1731; and repeated in mod. Dicts.). ? Obs.
