clack

English

Etymology

Compare French claque (“a slap or smack”).

Noun

clack (plural clacks)

1. an abrupt, sharp sound, especially one made by two hard objects colliding repetitively; a clatter; in sound, midway between a click and a clunk
2. Anything that causes a clacking noise, such as the clapper of a mill, or a clack valve.
3. chatter; prattle
   • South

     Whose chief intent is to vaunt his spiritual clack.

Derived terms

• clack box
• clack dish
• clack door
• clack valve

Translations

an abrupt, sharp sound

• Bulgarian: тракане (bg) (trakane), чукане (bg) (čukane)

chatter

• Bulgarian: бърборене (bg) n (bǎrborene)

Verb

clack (third-person singular simple present clacks, present participle clacking, simple past and past participle clacked)

1. (intransitive) To make a sudden, sharp noise, or succession of noises; to click.
   • Thackeray

     We heard Mr. Hodson's whip clacking on the shoulders of the poor little wretches.

2. (transitive) To cause to make a sudden, sharp noise, or succession of noises; to click.
3. To chatter or babble; to utter rapidly without consideration.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Feltham to this entry?)

Translations

to make such a sound

• Bulgarian: тракам (bg) (trakam), чукам (bg) (čukam)

to chatter or babble

• Bulgarian: бърборя (bg) n (bǎrborja)

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.