hen-cackle

plural hen-cackles

1. countableliterallyuncountableA loud, sharp, or broken sound made by a hen, especially after laying an egg.
2. broadlycountablefigurativelyslanguncountableA shrill, loud, or raucous laughter or chatter, typically associated with women.

   Doubtless there is a wider application of the term since a mere hen-cackle, a trifle, seems to have been the origin of the application.

   1941, Sidney John Baker, New Zealand Slang, A Dictionary of Colloquialisms, the First Comprehensive Survey Yet Made of Indigenous English Speech in this Country--from the Argot of Whaling Days to Children's Slang in the Twentieth Century, page 57