cuckoo

From Middle English cokkou, probably from Old French cucu (whence French coucou); ultimately onomatopoeic, perhaps via Latin cuculus (“cuckoo”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkʊkuː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkuːkuː/

• Audio (US)

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cuckoo (comparative more cuckoo, superlative most cuckoo)

1. Crazy; not sane.

cuckoo (plural cuckoos)

1. Any of various birds, of the family Cuculidae, famous for laying its eggs in the nests of other species; but especially the common cuckoo, Cuculus canorus, that has a characteristic two-note call.
   • 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act V Scene 1

     He knows me, as the blind man knows the cuckoo, / By the bad voice.

2. The sound of that particular bird.
3. The bird shaped figure found in Swiss/German clocks (cuckoo clocks) or the clock itself.
4. Someone found where they shouldn't be (used especially in the phrase a cuckoo in the nest).
5. Someone who is crazy.

• cuckoo clock
• cuckoo-dove
• cuckoo-pint (“Arum italicum”)
• cuckoo shrike
• cuckoo's egg
• cloud-cuckoo-land
• cuculine (rare)
• cuckoo sign

cuckoo (third-person singular simple present cuckoos, present participle cuckooing, simple past and past participle cuckooed)

1. To make the call of a cuckoo
2. To repeat something incessantly