Word.ws English Dictionary

cackled

cackled is the simple past and past participle of cackle.

Meaning of cackle

Verb

cackle (third-person singular simple present cackles, present participle cackling, simple past and past participle cackled)

  1. (intransitive) To make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does.
    • When every goose is cackling.c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  2. (intransitive) To laugh with a broken sound similar to a hen's cry.
    • The witch cackled evilly.
  3. (intransitive) To talk in a silly manner; to prattle.
    • It is also the business of a sensible government, not to cackle on its discoveries1860, P. Thomspon, Audi Alteration[???]
  4. (slang, transitive) To pretend to rattle (dice) in one's hand while gripping them so that they maintain their orientation.
    • Danny cackled the dice furiously in his cupped hand, then rolled them so they stopped inches from Slattery's hands. The result was the same as before – a seven.1941, Mignon Good Eberhart, The Third Mystery Book: Six Short Mysteries, page 120

See all 8 meanings of cackle

Questions about cackled

What is cackled the simple past and past participle of?
Cackled is the simple past and past participle of cackle.

Words near cackled in the dictionary

  1. cackle-bladders
  2. cackle-fart
  3. cackle-farts
  4. cackleberries
  5. cackleberry
  6. cackled
  7. cackler
  8. cacklers
  9. cackles
  10. cackleth
  11. cackling

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cackled (page history and authors); cackle (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “cackled.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cackled. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.