cuckoo

The definition of a cuckoo is a type of grayish colored European bird that lays its eggs in the nests of other types of birds, the sound that this type of bird makes or is slang for a crazy person.

(noun)

An example of cuckoo is the sound made by a bird clock from the Black Forest in Germany.

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See cuckoo in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

  1. any of a family (Cuculidae, order Cuculiformes) of birds with a long, slender body, grayish-brown on top and white below: many, including the European species (Cuculus canorus), lay eggs in the nests of other birds, but the American species hatch and rear their own young
  2. the call of a cuckoo, which sounds somewhat like its name
  3. an imitation of this call
  4. Slang a crazy or foolish person

Origin: ME < OFr coucou, cucu, echoic of the bird's cry

intransitive verb

to utter or imitate the call of a cuckoo

transitive verb

to repeat continually, as the cuckoo does its call

adjective

Slang crazy; foolish; silly

See cuckoo in American Heritage Dictionary 4

cuck·oo

noun pl. cuck·oos
  1. a. A grayish European bird (Cuculus canorus) that has a characteristic two-note call and lays its eggs in the nests of birds of other species.
    b. Any of various related birds of the family Cuculidae, having grayish-brown plumage and a slender body.
  2. The call or cry of one of these birds.
  3. Slang A foolish or crazy person.
transitive verb cuck·ooed, cuck·oo·ing, cuck·oos
To repeat incessantly, as a cuckoo does its call.
adjective
Slang
Lacking in sense; foolish or crazy.

Origin: Middle English cuccu, of imitative origin.

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