/kɹoʊk/, /kɹəʊk/
OriginFrom Middle English *croken, crouken, (also represented by craken > crake), back-formation from Old English crācettan (“to croak”) (also in derivative crǣcetung (“croaking”)), from Proto-Germanic *krēk-, from Proto-Indo-European *greh₂-g-, from *greh₂-k-, of onomatopoeic origin.
See also Swedish kråka, German krächzen, Sanskrit गर्जति (garjati, “to growl”); also compare Latin grāculus (“jackdaw”), Serbo-Croatian grákati. More at crack, crake and craic.
- A faint, harsh sound made in the throat.
- The call of a frog or toad.
- The harsh call of various birds, such as the raven or corncrake, or other creatures.
- intransitiveTo make a croak sound.
- transitiveTo utter in a low, hoarse voice.
“The raven himself is hoarse, / That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan.”
““I am so tired,” he croaked. “It’s ageing this nation in Tom Hanks in Castaway years.””
- intransitiveTo make its vocal sound.
- slangTo die.
- slang, transitiveTo kill.
“He'd seen my face, so I had to croak him.”
“"It was me. And I'm glad, damned glad, I didn't croak him. With this slick guy after me, it would be me for the chair."”
“If Wilton croaked the criminal he did a jolly good day's work, and there's an end of it.”
- To complain; especially, to grumble; to forebode evil; to utter complaints or forebodings habitually.
“Marat […] croaks with such reasonableness.”
- slangTo abort the current program indicating a user or caller error.
“The accessor croaks if it's not an appropriate object reference.”
Formscroaks(plural) · croaks(present, singular, third-person) · croaking(participle, present) · croaked(participle, past) · croaked(past) · Croaks(plural)