hen-cackle

English

Noun

hen-cackle (countable and uncountable, plural hen-cackles)

1. (literally) A loud, sharp, or broken sound made by a hen, especially after laying an egg.
2. (slang, figuratively, by extension) A shrill, loud, or raucous laughter or chatter, typically associated with women.
   • 1941, Sidney John Baker, New Zealand Slang, A Dictionary of Colloquialisms, the First Comprehensive Survey Yet Made of Indigenous English Speech in this Country--from the Argot of Whaling Days to Children's Slang in the Twentieth Century, page 57:

     Doubtless there is a wider application of the term since a mere hen-cackle, a trifle, seems to have been the origin of the application.