Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Cuckoo \Cuck"oo\ (k[oo^]k"[=oo]), n. [OE. coccou, cukkow, F. coucou, prob. of imitative origin; cf. L. cuculus, Gr. ????, Skr. k?ki?a, G. kuckuk, D. koekoek.] (Zo["o]l.) A bird belonging to Cuculus, Coccyzus, and several allied genera, of many species. Note: The European cuckoo ( Cuculus canorus) builds no nest of its own, but lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, to be hatched by them. The American yellow-billed cuckoo ( Coccyzus Americanus) and the black-billed cuckoo ( Coccyzus erythrophthalmus) build their own nests. Cuckoo clock, a clock so constructed that at the time for striking it gives forth sounds resembling the cry of the cuckoo. Cuckoo dove (Zo["o]l.), a long-tailed pigeon of the genus Macropygia. Many species inhabit the East Indies. Cuckoo fish (Zo["o]l.), the European red gurnard ( Trigla cuculus). The name probably alludes to the sound that it utters. Cuckoo falcon (Zo["o]l.), any falcon of the genus Baza. The genus inhabits Africa and the East Indies. Cuckoo maid (Zo["o]l.), the wryneck; -- called also cuckoo mate. Cuckoo ray (Zo["o]l.), a British ray ( Raia miraletus). Cuckoo spit, or Cuckoo spittle.
A frothy secretion found upon plants, exuded by the larvae of certain insects, for concealment; -- called also toad spittle and frog spit.
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(Zo["o]l.) A small hemipterous insect, the larva of which, living on grass and the leaves of plants, exudes this secretion. The insects belong to Aphrophora, Helochara, and allied genera.
Ground cuckoo, the chaparral cock.
Wiktionary
n. A clock that announces the time by a cuckoo sound, often equipped with a mechanical cuckoo.
WordNet
n. clock that announces the hours with a sound like the call of the cuckoo
Wikipedia
A cuckoo clock is a typically pendulum-regulated clock that strikes the hours with a sound like a common cuckoo's call and has an automaton cuckoo bird that moves with each note. Some move their wings, open/close the beak while leaning forward, whereas others only the bird's body is leaned forward. The mechanism to produce the cuckoo call has been in use since the middle of the 18th century and has remained almost without variation until the present.
It is unknown who invented it and where the first one was made. It is thought that much of its development and evolution was made in the Black Forest area in southwestern Germany (State of Baden-Württemberg), the region where the cuckoo clock was popularized. The cuckoo clocks were exported to the rest of the world from the mid 1850s on. Today, the cuckoo clock is one of the favourite souvenirs of travelers in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. It has become a cultural icon of Germany.
Usage examples of "cuckoo clock".
All of them except the cuckoo clock and, of course, the grandfather.
It was ten minutes after eight, and in back of the Emporium Galorium, a sledgehammer was coming down on an imitation German cuckoo clock.
The tracts and the cross and only the mechanical bird in the Black Forest cuckoo clock to mark off the rest of the hours and days and years and decades of her life?
I glanced at the cuckoo clock, which was still ticking away merrily as though nothing had happened.