different between cackle vs rackle

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

• IPA^(key): /??æ.k?l/

Etymology 1

From Middle English rakyl (“chain”), apparently related to Old Frisian rakels (“chain”), French racle ("the iron ring of a door") (from a Germanic source), and also Middle English rakente, from Old English racente (“chain, fetter”). More at rackan.

Alternative forms

• rakkill (Scotland)

Noun

rackle (countable and uncountable, plural rackles)

1. (countable, Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) A chain.
2. (uncountable, Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Noisy talk.

Verb

rackle (third-person singular simple present rackles, present participle rackling, simple past and past participle rackled)

1. (Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To talk noisily; rattle on.

Etymology 2

Origin uncertain. Probably from rack (“to drive; move; go forward rapidly”), alteration of Middle English reken (“to drive; move; tend”), from Old Norse reka, vreka (“to drive; drift; toss”) +? -le (“tending or prone to”). Related to Icelandic reka, Swedish vräka, Danish vrage, English wrack.

Adjective

rackle (comparative more rackle, superlative most rackle)

1. Of a person: rash, impetuous, reckless
2. Rough, crude
3. Sturdy in old age

Anagrams

• Clarke, calker, lacker, recalk