croak
nounverbattested in dialogue
- United Kingdom//kɹəʊk//
- United States//kɹoʊk//
A faint, harsh sound made in the throat.
noun
- 1
A faint, harsh sound made in the throat.
- 2
The call of a frog or toad.
- 3
The harsh call of various birds, such as the raven or corncrake, or other creatures.
Etymology
From 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.
verb
- 1
To make a croak sound.
- 2
To 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.”
- 3
To make its vocal sound.
- 4
slangTo die.
“I would like to understand before I croak. I would like to understand, and then I’m perfectly fine to shuffle off my mortal coil.”
- 5
slangTo 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.
- 6
To complain; especially, to grumble; to forebode evil; to utter complaints or forebodings habitually.
Marat […] croaks with such reasonableness.
- 7
slangTo abort the current program indicating a user or caller error.
The accessor croaks if it's not an appropriate object reference.
Forms
- plural
- croaks
- past tense
- croaked
- past participle
- croaked
- present participle
- croaking
- third person singular
- croaks
croak · A faint, harsh sound made in the throat.
Croak · A surname from Irish.crock · A stoneware or earthenware jar or storage container.Crock · A surname.