Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Cackle

Cackle , intransitive verb

[Old English cakelen; compare LG. kakeln, Dutch kakelen, German gackeln, gackern; all of imitative origin. Compare Gagle, Cake to cackle.]

1.
To make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does.
When every goose is cackling. — Shakespeare
2.
To laugh with a broken noise, like the cackling of a hen or a goose; to giggle. — Arbuthnot
3.
To talk in a silly manner; to prattle. — Johnson

Cackle , noun

1.
The sharp broken noise made by a goose or by a hen that has laid an egg.
By her cackle saved the state. — Dryden
2.
Idle talk; silly prattle.
There is a buzz and cackle all around regarding the sermon. — Thackeray