# cuckoo

Pronunciation: US say "KOO-koo" /ˈkuː.kuː/; UK say "KUU-koo" /ˈkʊk.uː/

## Noun

1. Any of various birds of the family Cuculidae, known for laying their eggs in other species' nests; especially the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), with its two-note call.
   - Simple: A bird known for laying its eggs in other birds' nests and for its two-note call.
   - _A cuckoo had laid its egg among the warbler's, and the larger chick soon pushed the others out._
   - _Birdwatchers walked the marsh at dawn, hoping to hear the cuckoo before it flew south again._
3. A cuckoo clock as a whole, rather than the bird figure inside it.
   - Simple: A cuckoo clock, meaning the whole clock and not just the little bird inside.
   - _The cuckoo in the kitchen struck noon just as the soup came to a boil._
   - _Grandma winds the old cuckoo in the hall every Sunday night._
4. The characteristic two-note call of the cuckoo.
   - Simple: The sound a cuckoo bird makes, two notes that sound like its name.
   - _Early each morning, a faint cuckoo drifted across the valley from the far hills._
   - _The kids answered each cuckoo from the woods with one of their own._
5. A person who is crazy. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A crazy person.
   - _Some cuckoo kept calling the radio station to report aliens in his backyard._
   - _The guy in 4B is a harmless cuckoo who talks to his houseplants._
6. The small bird figure in a cuckoo clock that emerges from a little door to call out the hour.
   - Simple: The little bird figure inside a cuckoo clock.
   - _On the hour, the little door swung open and the cuckoo popped out to call three times._
   - _The clockmaker carved a new cuckoo to replace the one with the broken beak._
7. A person who works their way by cunning into a place where they do not belong, especially in the phrase a cuckoo in the nest.
   - Simple: A person who tricks their way into a place where they do not belong, often called a cuckoo in the nest.
   - _Longtime staff came to regard the chairman's nephew as the cuckoo in the nest, a man who had flattered his way into a job nobody had advertised._
   - _The lodger who came for a week was still there a year later, a cuckoo who had quietly taken over the best room._

## Adjective

2. Crazy, or not in one's right mind. *(slang)*
   - Simple: Crazy, or not sane.
   - _After three days stuck inside with the kids, I'm about to go cuckoo._
   - _Everyone thought her plan to row across the Atlantic alone was completely cuckoo._

## Verb

9. To make the two-note call of a cuckoo.
   - Simple: To make the two-note sound that a cuckoo bird makes.
   - _Wind the toy up and the little wooden bird will cuckoo and flap its tail._
   - _Somewhere beyond the orchard, a bird cuckooed all through the long afternoon._
8. To take over the home of a vulnerable person and use it, out of sight, for organized crime. *(UK)*
   - Simple: To take over the home of someone who can't easily protect themselves, and secretly use it for gang crime.
   - _Dealers look for isolated tenants to cuckoo, and a man who has been cuckooed is often too frightened to ring the police._
   - _Detectives believe the gang cuckooed three tenants on the estate to hide cash and stolen goods._

## Other meanings

- (verb) To repeat something over and over without letup.

## Origin

From Middle English cokkou, cukkuk, probably from Old French cocu, cucu (whence French coucou), and ultimately imitating the song of the male common cuckoo, perhaps via Latin cucūlus ("cuckoo"). It displaced Middle English gnokken and the native yeke, from Old English ġēac ("cuckoo"; see gowk). The UK sense comes by analogy from the bird's habit of laying its eggs in other birds' nests.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/cuckoo (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).