CUCKOO • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Cuckoo

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/kˈəkˌu/ /kˈukˌu/ Listen

noun

Cuckoo n. (Zool.) A bird belonging to Cuculus, Coccyzus, and several allied genera, of many species. Note: The European cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) builds no nest of its own, but lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, to be hatched by them. The American yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus Americanus) and the black-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus erythrophthalmus) build their own nests.

Cuckoo clock, a clock so constructed that at the time for striking it gives forth sounds resembling the cry of the cuckoo.

Cuckoo dove (Zool.), a long-tailed pigeon of the genus Macropygia. Many species inhabit the East Indies.

Cuckoo fish (Zool.), the European red gurnard (Trigla cuculus). The name probably alludes to the sound that it utters.

Cuckoo falcon (Zool.), any falcon of the genus Baza. The genus inhabits Africa and the East Indies.

Cuckoo maid (Zool.), the wryneck; called also cuckoo mate.

Cuckoo ray (Zool.), a British ray (Raia miraletus).

Cuckoo spit, or Cuckoo spittle.

(a)

A frothy secretion found upon plants, exuded by the larvae of certain insects, for concealment; called also toad spittle and frog spit.

(b)

(Zool.) A small hemipterous insect, the larva of which, living on grass and the leaves of plants, exudes this secretion. The insects belong to Aphrophora, Helochara, and allied genera.

Ground cuckoo, the chaparral cock.

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Etymology of 'Cuckoo'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Cuckoo" Quotes from Famous Books

... jocund cometh after, Month of all the Loves (and mine); Month of mock and cuckoo-laughter,— May the jocund cometh after. Beaks are gay on roof and rafter; Luckless lovers ...

— Collected Poems - In Two Volumes, Vol. II • Austin Dobson

... of Good Women," line 422, "Complete Works," 1894, vol. i. pp. 19 and 96. Such was the reputation of Chaucer that a great many writings were attributed to him—a way to increase their reputation, not his. The more important of them are: "The Court of Love"; the "Book of Cupid," otherwise "Cuckoo and Nightingale"; "Flower and Leaf," the "Romaunt of the Rose," such as we have it; the "Complaint of a Lover's Life"; the "Testament of Love" (in prose, see below, page 522); the "Isle of Ladies," or "Chaucer's Dream"; ...

— A Literary History of the English People - From the Origins to the Renaissance • Jean Jules Jusserand

... of drought and east wind, scarcely a flower to be seen, no verdure in the meadows, no leaves in the hedgerows; if a poor violet or primrose did make its appearance it was scentless. I have not once heard my aversion the cuckoo... and in this place, so evidently the rendezvous of swallows, that it takes its name from them, not a swallow has yet appeared. The only time that I have heard the nightingale, I drove, the one mild day we have had, to a wood where I used to find the woodsorrel in beds; ...

— Our Village • Mary Russell Mitford

... beginning it would be all well," said the mother stork. "Turn thy thoughts now to thine own family. It is almost time for our long journey; I begin now to tingle under the wings. The cuckoo and the nightingale are already gone, and I hear the quails saying that we shall soon have a fair wind. Our young ones are quite able to go, ...

— The Sand-Hills of Jutland • Hans Christian Andersen

... is Buck'buck. It may be heard nearly every night during winter, uttering a cry, corresponding with that word. . . .The lower order of the settlers in New South Wales are led away by the idea that everything is the reverse in that country to what it is in England : and the cuckoo, as they call this bird, singing by night, is one of the ...

— A Dictionary of Austral English • Edward Morris

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