clack

«clack» in Mova's school dictionary: To make a short, sharp sound like two hard things hitting… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

verb (clack, clacks, clacked, clacking); noun (a clack, clacks)

meaning for a pupil

1) To make a short, sharp sound like two hard things hitting each other. tree →

2) The sound itself (the clack of heels, the clack of a keyboard). tree →

3) (informal) To chatter loudly and on and on. tree →

sense in the lessons

In stories it is a sound word that helps the reader hear the scene — heels on a hard floor, knitting needles, an old typewriter, a train on the tracks. It tells the reader there is a sharp, repeated, hard sound. Similar: «click», «clatter».

examples

• Her shoes clacked on the stone floor. tree →
• We heard the clack of knitting needles. tree →
• The old typewriter clacked as Grandad typed. tree →
• The train clacked over the rails. tree →
• The stork clacked its long beak. tree →
• The castanets clacked in time to the music. tree →
• Keyboards were clacking all over the computer room. tree →
• ‘Click, clock, clack, Our golden maid’s come back.’ tree →

note

Regular verb: clacked, clacking. It is an onomatopoeic word — it sounds like the noise it names. Not the same as «clap» (hands) or «clank» (a heavy metal sound).

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «clack» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.