croakers

Noun

croaker (plural croakers)

1. Someone who or something that makes a croaking sound.
2. Any of certain fish in the family Sciaenidae, known for the throbbing sounds they make.
3. (informal) A frog.
   • Frogs are also sensitive to vibrations through the ground, a footfall usually being sufficient to instil silence in a pond full of croakers.1974, Clive Roots, Animals of the Dark, page 41
4. (slang) A doctor.
   • "Lungs," said McGuire comprehensively. "I got it. The croaker says I'll come to time for four months longer—maybe six if I hold my gait.[…]"1903 February, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Hygeia at the Solito”, in Everybody’s Magazine, volume VIII, number 2, New York, N.Y.: John Wanamaker, →ISSN, page 173, column 1
5. (slang) One who will soon die; a goner.
   • Mrs. Burke had […] bought a bottle […] to comfort him in his dying struggles (she was sure he must be a 'croaker').1888, Fredrick W. J. Henning, Some Recollections of the Prize Ring, page 75
6. (dated) A vocal pessimist, grumbler, or doomsayer.
   • There are croakers in every country, always boding its ruin.1771–1790, Benjamin Franklin, “The Autobiography [Part 1]”, in John Bigelow, editor, Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. […], Philadelphia, Pa.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott & Co., published 1868...