chuckle

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃʌkəl/

  Rhymes: -ʌkəl

From chuck +‎ -le.

chuckle (plural chuckles)

1. A quiet laugh.

• chortle
• giggle
• snigger
• titter

chuckle (third-person singular simple present chuckles, present participle chuckling, simple past and past participle chuckled)

1. To laugh quietly or inwardly.
2. (transitive) To communicate through chuckling.

   She chuckled her assent to my offer as she got in the car.

3. (intransitive, archaic) To make the sound of a chicken; to cluck.
4. (transitive, archaic) To call together, or call to follow, as a hen calls her chickens; to cluck.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of John Dryden to this entry?)

5. (transitive, archaic) To fondle; to indulge or pamper.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of John Dryden to this entry?)

• See also Thesaurus:laugh

Perhaps from chock (“a log”).

chuckle (comparative more chuckle, superlative most chuckle)

1. (obsolete) Clumsy.

• chucklehead