Dictionary

coo-coo en · NOUN · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• /ˈkuku/

Etymology

Imitative of the bird's song.

Meanings

1. The two-note vocalisation made by the male of the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), or imitation of this by a cuckoo clock.
   • The clocks lining the dream hallway in her mind taunted her with their twisting hands, their broken faces, and some of them, with a cringe-worthy coo-coo, coo-coo squall. 2014, Norah Wilson, Heather Doherty, Forever the Night:
2. The repeated vocalisation of various other birds, such as doves.
   • From the fishing basket on which he was sitting came the unusual sound of a ‘coo-coo,’ and another spy was caught. The supposed fisherman had been sending the enemy information by means of the carrier pigeons. 1914 December 11, The Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, NSW, page 35, column 4:
3. A loving or affectionate murmuration.
   • "Cut it short, sis, cut it short," he would growl at her if she started to murmur sweet "coo-coos" to her affinity stationed on the other end of the wire. 1916 August 14, The Electrical Experimenter, New York, page 248, column 3:
4. (obsolete) A cuckoo.

Forms

Translations (6)

ru ку-ку (sound made by the cuckoo) · pl kukanie (sound made by the cuckoo) · gd gug gùg (sound made by the cuckoo) · nb ko-ko (sound made by the cuckoo) · sv kucku (sound made by the cuckoo) · vi cu cu (sound made by the cuckoo)

coo-coo en · NOUN · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• /ˈkuku/

Etymology

Ulitmately from various west African languages, as Yoruba kuuku (“corn dumpling”) and Akan kukú.

Meanings

1. (uncountable) A dish made from mashed okra and cornmeal.
   • They steal to the huts, where the women are pounding in mortars the coos-coos, or corn, watch till the pounders are gone for sieves to searce the meal, and then slily creep to the mortars, take out the meal, and carry it off in their pangs, looking every moment behind them, to see if they are observed or pursued; or they put it into calabashes, and arranging themselves in a row, like the monkeys, convey it from hand to hand, till it is placed in safety. 1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 496:

Forms