cuckoo

A bird with a familiar two-note call; many types lay their eggs in other birds’ nests.

• I heard a cuckoo this morning.
• A cuckoo laid an egg in that nest.
• Cuckoos return to these woods each spring.

Common phrases: cuckoo call, cuckoo egg, hear a cuckoo

A small bird figure that comes out of a clock when it announces the hour.

• The cuckoo popped out at noon.
• The clock’s wooden cuckoo had a broken wing.
• She watched the little cuckoo disappear behind its door.

Common phrases: wooden cuckoo, clock’s cuckoo, carved cuckoo

The two-note sound made by a bird of this name.

• A cuckoo echoed through the woods.
• We heard a soft cuckoo from the trees.
• Her imitation of the cuckoo made us laugh.

Common phrases: distant cuckoo, soft cuckoo, repeated cuckoo

A clock that announces the hour with a bird sound and usually a small moving bird figure.

• The cuckoo struck twelve.
• We hung an old cuckoo in the kitchen.
• Have you wound the cuckoo today?

Similar words: cuckoo clock

Common phrases: antique cuckoo, wooden cuckoo, wind the cuckoo

Behaving or thinking in a way that seems strange or unreasonable.

• That idea is completely cuckoo.
• I thought I was going cuckoo.
• You must be cuckoo to swim in this weather.

How to use it: go cuckoo (I’ll go cuckoo if that alarm keeps ringing.)

Similar words: crazy, mad, nuts

Opposites: sane

Common phrases: go cuckoo, completely cuckoo, a little cuckoo

To make the two-note call associated with a particular bird.

• The bird cuckooed in the trees.
• Our old clock cuckoos every hour.
• We heard a bird cuckooing beyond the garden.

Common phrases: cuckoo softly, cuckoo from trees, cuckoo all morning

To say the same thing again and again.

• He cuckooed the same phrase again.
• The speakers kept cuckooing their party’s slogan.
• She cuckoos whatever her friends say.

Similar words: parrot, repeat

Common phrases: cuckoo a phrase, cuckoo the slogan, cuckoo endlessly

To take control of a vulnerable person’s home and secretly use it for organized crime.

• The gang cuckooed his flat.
• Dealers were cuckooing homes to store stolen goods.
• Police warned that criminals might cuckoo vulnerable residents.

Common phrases: cuckoo someone’s home, cuckoo a flat, cuckoo vulnerable people