different between cackle vs chatter

English

Etymology

From Middle English caclen, cakelen. Compare Dutch kakelen (“to cackle”), German Low German kakeln (“to cackle”), German kakeln (“to blather”), Danish kagle (“to cackle”), Swedish kackla (“to cackle”). Compare also Old English cahhetan, ?eahhettan (“to laugh loudly; cackle”), German gackern (“to cackle”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kæk?l/
• Rhymes: -æk?l

Noun

cackle (countable and uncountable, plural cackles)

1. The cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg.
2. A laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose.
3. Futile or excessively noisy talk.
   • 1930, Frank Richards, The Magnet, All Quiet on the Greyfriars Front

     There's no time to waste on silly cackle.

4. A group of hyenas.

Translations

Verb

cackle (third-person singular simple present cackles, present participle cackling, simple past and past participle cackled)

1. (intransitive) To make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does.
2. (intransitive) To laugh with a broken sound similar to a hen's cry.

3. (intransitive) To talk in a silly manner; to prattle.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Johnson to this entry?)

4. (transitive, gambling, slang) To pretend to rattle (dice) in one's hand while gripping them so that they maintain their orientation.
   • 1941, Mignon Good Eberhart, The Third Mystery Book: Six Short Mysteries (page 120)

     Danny cackled the dice furiously in his cupped hand, then rolled them so they stopped inches from Slattery's hands. The result was the same as before - a seven.

   • 2015, Jack Engelhard, The Prince of Dice (page 11)

     […] they spun all right, or so it seemed, and hit the wall all right, or so it seemed, but bottom line was this: The stirring of the dice was merely cackling, the cubes artfully framed so that the spots in the kid's fists showed 4?4 up?right and weren't really rattled but rather, held in control by the pinky, forefinger and thumb; […]

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:laugh

Translations

See also

• cluck

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?t?æt?/
• (US) enPR: ch?t??r, IPA^(key): /?t?æt?/
• Rhymes: -æt?(r)

Etymology 1

From Middle English chateren, from earlier cheteren, chiteren (“to twitter, chatter, jabber”), of imitative origin. Compare Dutch schateren (“chatter”), schetteren, Dutch koeteren (“jabber”), dialectal German kaudern (“to gobble (like a turkey)”), Danish kvidre (“to twitter, chirp”).

Noun

chatter (usually uncountable, plural chatters)

1. Talk, especially meaningless or unimportant talk.

   Synonyms: chattering, chatting, nattering; see also Thesaurus:chatter

2. The sound of talking.
3. The vocalisations of a Eurasian magpie, Pica pica.
4. The vocalisations of various birds or other animals.
   • 2016, Cornelia F. Mutel, A Sugar Creek Chronicle (page 41)

     The wind rose as the earth darkened, so that fading chatters of woodland animals were countered by the strengthening sounds of waving trees […]

5. An intermittent noise, as from vibration.

6. (uncountable) In national security, the degree of communication between suspect groups and individuals, used to gauge the degree of expected terrorist activity.

7. (uncountable) The situation where a drill or similar tool vibrates and tears the material rather than cutting it cleanly.

Translations

Verb

chatter (third-person singular simple present chatters, present participle chattering, simple past and past participle chattered)

1. (intransitive) To talk idly.

   Synonyms: chat, natter
2. (intransitive) Of teeth, machinery, etc, to make a noise by rapid collisions.

   Synonyms: clatter, knock, (said of an engine) pink

3. To utter sounds which somewhat resemble language, but are inarticulate and indistinct.
   • 1815, William Wordsworth, Resolution and Independence

     The jay makes answer, as the magpie chatters with delight.

Translations

Etymology 2

chat +? -er

Noun

chatter (plural chatters)

1. One who chats.
2. (Internet) A user of chat rooms.

Further reading

• chatter in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• chatter in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• chatter at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• ratchet, traceth