English Dictionary

CUCKOO

Pronunciation (US): Play  (GB): Play

IPA (US): 

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cuckoo mean? 

CUCKOO (noun)
  The noun CUCKOO has 2 senses:

1. a man who is a stupid incompetent foolplay

2. any of numerous European and North American birds having pointed wings and a long tailplay

  Familiarity information: CUCKOO used as a noun is rare.


CUCKOO (verb)
  The verb CUCKOO has 1 sense:

1. repeat monotonously, like a cuckoo repeats his callplay

  Familiarity information: CUCKOO used as a verb is very rare.


 Dictionary entry details 


CUCKOO (noun)


Sense 1

Meaning:

A man who is a stupid incompetent fool

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

bozo; cuckoo; fathead; goof; goofball; goose; jackass; twat; zany

Hypernyms ("cuckoo" is a kind of...):

fool; muggins; sap; saphead; tomfool (a person who lacks good judgment)


Sense 2

Meaning:

Any of numerous European and North American birds having pointed wings and a long tail

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("cuckoo" is a kind of...):

cuculiform bird (birds having zygodactyl feet (except for the touracos))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cuckoo"):

Cuculus canorus; European cuckoo (common cuckoo of Europe having a distinctive two-note call; lays eggs in the nests of other birds)

black-billed cuckoo; Coccyzus erythropthalmus (North American cuckoo; builds a nest and rears its own young)

chaparral cock; Geococcyx californianus; roadrunner (speedy largely terrestrial bird found from California and Mexico to Texas)

ani (black tropical American cuckoo)

coucal (Old World ground-living cuckoo having a long dagger-like hind claw)

Holonyms ("cuckoo" is a member of...):

Cuculidae; family Cuculidae (includes cuckoo; ani; roadrunner)

Derivation:

cuckoo (repeat monotonously, like a cuckoo repeats his call)


CUCKOO (verb)

 Conjugation: 
Present simple: I / you / we / they cuckoo  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation ... he / she / it cuckoos  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation
Past simple: cuckooed  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation
Past participle: cuckooed  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation
-ing form: cuckooing  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation


Sense 1

Meaning:

Repeat monotonously, like a cuckoo repeats his call

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "cuckoo" is one way to...):

echo; repeat (to say again or imitate)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

cuckoo (any of numerous European and North American birds having pointed wings and a long tail)


 Context examples 


Like a cuckoo, it lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, and its chick hatches equipped with sharp hooks at the tips of its beak.

(How humans and wild Honeyguide birds call each other to help, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

It happened in the August of ’99, or it may have been in the early days of September; but I remember that we heard the cuckoo in Patcham Wood, and that Jim said that perhaps it was the last of him.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)



 Learn English with... Proverbs 
"Different sores must have different salves." (English proverb)

"Consider the tune, not the voice; consider the words, not the tune; consider the meaning, not the words." (Bhutanese proverb)

"A mouth that praises and a hand that kills." (Arabic proverb)

"If a caged bird isn't singing for love, it's singing in a rage." (Corsican proverb)



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