cack
A squawk.
Noun
- A squawk.
- Of course, so excitable a nature must find other than physical outlet for his irrepressible energy, and he accompanies his movements by more or less appropriate notes: scolding cacks, clinking, metallic rattles, musical...
- […]for on occasions he gives utterance to an entirely uncharacteristic series of cacking notes, and even mounts high in the tree to sing a hesitating medley of the same unmusical cacks, broken whistled calls, and...
- When birds approach their cliffs in the spring, they often emit a series of rapidly repeated cacks, or notes of varying pitches. Sometimes the notes are very spirited; others are very soft. Male cacks tend to be higher...
- A discordant note.
- A cackling goose (Branta hutchinsii)
- […] cacks, " the whitefronts or specklebellies in the Sacramento Valley - 1950, Field and Stream - Volume 55, page 42:
- White geese aren't supposed to be such good eating and most of the gunners want "specs" or "cacks" or Hutchins or Canadas but I'll eat snow geese any time you don't want 'em. - 2012, Van Campen Heilner, A Book on Duck...
Origin
Onomatopoeia; see cackle.
Forms
Noun Entry 2
- An act of defecation.
- Can't cack... won't cack, My bum hole has gone on strike, I've huffed and puffed, grunted and groaned, And squeezed as hard as I liked, I've leant myself backwards, leant to the front, Raised my knees and then put them...
- Excrement.
- I dive back in along the cobbles, step over the cack, wall an fence closin me down, barbed wire left, razor wire right, follow by puttied-in broken glass, spike rails an stuck-on warnings about dogs. - 2013, Nick...
- " And have bird cack on their heads , " Jacques agreed cheerfully, to Ash's relief. - 2016, Patricia Rice, Theory of Magic:
- Rubbish; anything worthless.
- 'See that' said the man, pointing with his fork at a trace of soemthing on the rim, 'that's not been washed properly. That's a bit of old cack on there.' - 2009, Monica Ali, In The Kitchen, page 425:
- At first, he genuinely didn't recognize her without all that high-gloss cack on her face. - 2013, Gemma Files, “Nanny Grey”, in Ellen Datlow, editor, The Best Horror of the Year:
- Not thinking, because he's got it in his hand, he wipes her mouth with the dirty dishcloth – leaves a little bit of cack on her lips, but she doesn't notice . - 2017, Bob Mortimer & Andy Dawson, The World of Football...
Origin
From Middle English cakken, from Old English *cacian, from Old English cac (“dung; excrement”), from Latin cacāre (“excrete feces”). Cognate with English caca. Compare Dutch kakken (“to defecate”), German kacken (“to relieve oneself; defecate”), Latin cacō (“defecate”) (see there for more); compare also Irish cac (“feces, excrement”).
Forms
Synonyms
Derived
Noun Entry 3
- An inexpensive boot or shoe made in the 19th or early 20th century for a baby or young child.
- To one handling shoes, from cacks to footwear for the oldest men and women , and taking into consideration the trade as it is handled at large not simply in our city , the universally ac- knowledged metropolis of the...
- Nathan D. Chase, a well-to-do boss who accumulated enough wealth to retire in 1850 at middle age, observed that the prices for making shoes remained low from 1837 to 1842: 4 cents for red-bottomed cacks, 8 cents for...
- In the cacks for infants I noticed a tasty little patent leather foxed with cloth top, an ox blood slipper with dainty bow, and then there are others with green cloth tops, Scotch plaids and vesting tops in a great...
- A young child.
- Ma is calling breakfast. The little cacks are up. Billy, who is only six –and you are eight! –Billy tried to wash himself and got some soap in his eyes. Funny that little cacks like that always get soap in their eyes! -...
- Seniors bully cacks because they were bullied as cacks. Old boys who were miserable here send their sons here to make them miserable. It's called tradition. - 2000, Anthony Akerman, Dark Outsider: Three Plays, page 123:
- Even fresh Cacks with some prowess on the rugby or cricket field are likely to get it slightly easier than their quivering peers. - 2009, Matthew Knight, Between the Lines: The Spirit of South African Rugby, page 106:
Origin
Of unknown origin. Possibly from Scots cack (“soft shoe”).
Forms
Noun slang, uncountable
- Penis.
Origin
From cock.
Noun alt of, obsolete
- obsolete spelling of cake (any sense)
- Eye colours for dying blew, almost as good as Indico, made vp in round cacks or pieces, and packed one hundred cacks in a Fardell, worth the Fardell, fiftie to sixtie. - 1625, Samuel Purchas, Purchas His Pilgrimes: In...
- the gouerners Expences from the Coart of election, 1651, till the end of October, 1651; to bear & cacks [ beer and cakes ] 6d.; bear and cacks to himself and som other gentlemen, 18. 2d.; bear and cacks with Mr....
- The picture of Governor Endicott sitting at table in the "Anchor" eating "cacks" and drinking "beare" robs this picturesque character in Colonial history of some of its lustre. - 1897, Edward Field, The Colonial Tavern,...
Forms
Verb Entry 6
- To defecate.
- Can't cack... won't cack, My bum hole has gone on strike, I've huffed and puffed, grunted and groaned, And squeezed as hard as I liked, I've leant myself backwards, leant to the front, Raised my knees and then put them...
- To defecate (on); to shit.
- ‘I asked him once if he got nervous before doing it,’ says Astin, ‘and he said he was absolutely cacking himself before going on stage, but as soon as he got there it was fantastic.’ - 2005, M. J. Simpson, Hitchhiker: A...
- […] through the open door, now directly below his feet, and nearly cacked his breeks when the stretcher skidded slightly on the shiny metal floor. - 2010, Tony Doyle, Flying at the Edge: 20 Years of Front-Line and...
- Another distinction she reported: my brother once cacked his pants and responded with the words, "It will never happen again" – and it didn't, […] - 2010, Julian Barnes, Nothing to be Frightened Of, Vintage Canada,...
- To excrete (something) by defecation.
- He smelled the ferrous oxide of blood and the farmyard stench of shit. He'd cacked it. He was empty and he'd cacked his load. The brushman came over, lisping slightly[…] - 2016, Nicholas Blincoe, Jello Salad, Canelo,...
- To kill.
- He tried to shoot me, so I cacked him.
- Stay, by your leave I will put in a distinguo; your goose has cacked. - 1923, Béroalde de Verville, Fantastic Tales; Or, The Way to Attain:
- To cheat.
- Thus was I then to lose my faithfull preceptress, as did the philosophers of the town the white crow of her profession: for besides that she never ransacked her customers, whose taste too she ever studiously consulted,...
Forms
Synonyms
Derived
Verb Entry 7
- To squawk.
- Still fluffy with down, she often attacks the other birds, cacking and flashing her wings, or threatens me as I watch through the tiny peephole of the near box. - 1990, P. H. Liotta, Learning to Fly, page 32:
- 2000, Minnesota Ornithologists′ Union, The Loon, Volumes 72-74, page 37, While the Gyrfalcon cacked loudly on each stoop, the owl did not scream.
- Peckle snitted them off and cacked at them. Then he flew up by the rope-tie spot and puffed out his chest and then the wrens made another dash for the scraps and he dove down and cacked them away. - 2007, Turk Allcott,...
- To incorrectly play a note by hitting a partial other than the one intended.
- The bugler hopes not to cack during his performance.
- To laugh.
- I had to cack when you fell down the stairs.