CLACK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does clack mean? 

• CLACK (noun)
  The noun CLACK has 2 senses:

1. a sharp abrupt noise as if two objects hit together; may be repeated

2. a simple valve with a hinge on one side; allows fluid to flow in only one direction

  Familiarity information: CLACK used as a noun is rare.

• CLACK (verb)
  The verb CLACK has 3 senses:

1. make a rattling sound

2. make a clucking sounds, characteristic of hens

3. speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly

  Familiarity information: CLACK used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CLACK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A sharp abrupt noise as if two objects hit together; may be repeated

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

clack; clap

Hypernyms ("clack" is a kind of...):

noise (sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound))

Derivation:

clack (make a clucking sounds, characteristic of hens)

clack (make a rattling sound)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A simple valve with a hinge on one side; allows fluid to flow in only one direction

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

clack; clack valve; clapper valve

Hypernyms ("clack" is a kind of...):

valve (control consisting of a mechanical device for controlling the flow of a fluid)

• CLACK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they clack    ... he / she / it clacks   
Past simple: clacked   
Past participle: clacked   
-ing form: clacking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make a rattling sound

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

brattle; clack; clatter

Context example:

clattering dishes

Hypernyms (to "clack" is one way to...):

make noise; noise; resound (emit a noise)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sentence examples:

Cars clack in the streets
The streets clack with cars

Derivation:

clack (a sharp abrupt noise as if two objects hit together; may be repeated)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make a clucking sounds, characteristic of hens

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

clack; click; cluck

Hypernyms (to "clack" is one way to...):

emit; let loose; let out; utter (express audibly; utter sounds (not necessarily words))

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

clack (a sharp abrupt noise as if two objects hit together; may be repeated)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

blab; blabber; chatter; clack; gabble; gibber; maunder; palaver; piffle; prate; prattle; tattle; tittle-tattle; twaddle

Hypernyms (to "clack" is one way to...):

mouth; speak; talk; utter; verbalise; verbalize (express in speech)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "clack"):

babble; blather; blether; blither; smatter (to talk foolishly)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

 Context examples 

Can I not speak with my own son but you must let your tongue clack?

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He had the chain in his right claw and the shoes in his left, and he flew right away to a mill, and the mill went “Click clack, click clack, click clack.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

And then, all of a sudden, a shrill voice broke forth out of the darkness: “Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!” and so forth, without pause or change, like the clacking of a tiny mill.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Was ever such a hissing and clacking?

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Inside the mill were twenty of the miller’s men hewing a stone, and as they went “Hick hack, hick hack, hick hack,” the mill went “Click clack, click clack, click clack.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

The air was full of the clack of their voices and the merry prattling of children, in strange contrast to the flash of arms and constant warlike challenge from the walls above.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Can a Frenchman upon French land not sit down in a French auberge without having his ears pained by the clack of their hideous talk?

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But indeed this good knight was a very quiet and patient man, for he saw that the Sieur de Crespigny was still young and spoke from an empty head, so he sat his horse and quaffed his wine, even as you are doing now, all heedless of the clacking tongue.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)