potrack meaning (dated): definition, etymology and quotations

potrack

intj

UK /ˈpɒtɹak/ · US /ˈpɑtɹæk/

Etymology Onomatopoeic.

Southern US, Dated, Especially The shrill, high-pitched noise of a guinea fowl.

Here and there cattle were grazing, guinea fowls were calling potrack in tones which not even the magic of distance could render musical[…]1898, Bradford Torrey, “Virginia”, in A World of Green Hills: Observations of Nature and Human Nature in the Blue Ridge, Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, page 186:
My grandmother got me some guinea eggs once, to put under one of those hens. Their "potrack, potrack, potrack" had all the neighbors up in arms after a while2003 November 29, DittyDu...@webtv.net, “Thanksgiving over, now TRUTH!”, in alt.fifty-plus.friends:

1 more example

[…]a few guinea hens pecking for seeds or worms and calling out their idiot incessant potrack, potrack, potrack.2019 May 20, Terrell Greene, Terry’s Run: An American Life 1923 ..., Xlibris, →ISBN:

verb

Etymology Onomatopoeic.

Archaic To make such a shrill, high-pitched noise.

Chiefly African-American Vernacular

"Dem guineas potracked en waked me up, Son," whispered Neptune. "Now I aims to git whut 's been sneakin' off wid my fowls."1920, Marie Conway Oernler, “IV: The Soul of Black Folks”, in The Purple Heights, New York: Century Co.:
Cocks crowed, guineas potracked, calves and goats bleated. A strain of music sang out above the confusion of sounds[…]1932, Julia Mood Peterkin, chapter V, in Bright Skin: A Novel, University of Georgia Press, published 1998, →ISBN, page 43:

1 more example

Come de daybreak you hear de guinea fowls start potracking down at de edge of de woods lot, and den de roosters all start up 'round de barn and de ducks finally wake up and jine in.1941, Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves, volume 13, Washington, DC: Library of Congress, →OCLC, page 334:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.