CUCKOO • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • 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

... the coming on of night, the air grew cool, and in the mellowing distance smoke was rising gently from the cottage chimneys. There were a thousand pleasant scents diffused around, from young leaves and fresh buds; the cuckoo had been singing all day long, and was but just now hushed; the smell of earth newly-upturned, first breath of hope to the first labourer after his garden withered, was fragrant in the evening breeze. It was a time when most men ...

— Life And Adventures Of Martin Chuzzlewit • Charles Dickens

... needed to destroy the legend of the cuckoo, incessantly repeated down to the days of Xavier Raspail, and to us so familiar; to elucidate its history, and to set it in its ...

— Fabre, Poet of Science • Dr. G.V. (C.V.) Legros

... he bethought himself of the cave whence she had emerged. It was close at hand—a natural grotto, arched and apparently lofty. He resolved to explore it. Glancing at his watch he saw it was not yet one o'clock in the morning, yet the voice of the cuckoo called shrilly from the neighboring hills, and a circling group of swallows flitted around him, their lovely wings glistening like jewels in the warm light of the ever-wakeful sun. Going to the entrance of the cave, he looked in. It was formed of rough rock, hewn ...

— Thelma • Marie Corelli

... tell you. Walk, feel your way down this long avenue of cypress to your right, and stop at the first white marble door you touch upon your left. Wait there for me. When I come I shall imitate the call of a cuckoo in order that the attendants may open to ...

— Clair de Lune - A Play in Two Acts and Six Scenes • Michael Strange

... her hump became visible, and I saw that there was an opening in it, and there popped out from this hole the green head of a parrot which the old woman carried in her hump. This creature called out, "Cuckoo," in a thin, squeaking, far-away voice, and then withdrew again into the frightful old hag's hump. Oh! when I heard that "Cuckoo!" a cold perspiration formed on my forehead; but suddenly the woman disappeared and then I realized that it was ...

— The Story of a Child • Pierre Loti

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