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# cluck

verb (cluck, clucks, clucked, clucking); noun (a cluck, clucks)

«cluck» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. (verb) When a hen clucks, she makes her short, low, repeated sound. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cluck/#m1)
2. (noun) That sound a hen makes. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cluck/#m2)
3. (verb) To make a clicking sound with your tongue to show you disapprove, are sorry or are worried: «Mum clucked her tongue». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cluck/#m3)
4. (verb) To fuss over someone in a worried, caring way, like a mother hen: «cluck over the baby». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cluck/#m4)
5. (noun, slang, US, old) A silly or stupid person: «You dumb cluck!» [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cluck/#m5)

### 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 →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cluck/#x1)
- We heard a cluck from inside the henhouse. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cluck/#x2)
- Gran clucked her tongue when she saw my muddy shoes. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cluck/#x3)
- The aunties clucked over the new baby all afternoon. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cluck/#x4)
- Cluck, cluck, went the chicken as it pecked the corn. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cluck/#x5)
- The teacher clucked sympathetically when I told her about my lost dog. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cluck/#x6)
- In the old cartoon, the sailor called his friend a dumb cluck. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cluck/#x7)
- “No, no!” clucked the elder bird. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cluck/#x8)

### 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.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «cluck» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cluck/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«cluck» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/cluck.html) on Mova free.