croak

Meanings

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.

1. To make a croak sound.
2. To utter in a low, hoarse voice.
3. To make its vocal sound.
4. To die.
5. To kill.
6. To complain; especially, to grumble; to forebode evil; to utter complaints or forebodings habitually.
7. To abort the current program indicating a user or caller error.

1. A surname from Irish.

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.