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The Longman Dictionary has an example sentence that confuses me:

All of its close relatives except one make the whine but not the chuck.

What does "make the whine but not the chuck" mean in this context? No part makes any sense to me.

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  • I've never hear this expression either. I have no idea what that would mean. I wonder if anyone knows.
    – TimK
    Commented Mar 12, 2018 at 0:19

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It's not an expression or any kind of figure of speech. 'Whine' and 'chuck' are parts of the mating call of certain types of frogs. Here's a video where you can hear both:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S-RAgudnww

The whine is the longer part of the mating call, and the chuck is the clicking bit at the end.

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Here you go

Apparently the male Tungara frog has two distinct sounds in its mating call:

Males produce a call that consists of a whine, and can also add up to seven short chuck sounds to their mating call. A call consisting of both a whine and a chuck is considered a complex call.

The mating calls of the Tungara frog

Here "whine" and "chuck" are onomatopoetic representations of the sounds you hear in the video, and are not directly related to any other meaning of these words.

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  • Very detailed answer! Thank you! I picked the other answer only because that person has a lower reputation score, and you are already an established user here.
    – Eddie Kal
    Commented Mar 12, 2018 at 0:45
  • @EddieKal It's all the same to me, as PMV's answer is equally correct -- but you really should pick the response that you feel best answers your question. Other things like reputation should not be relevant.
    – Andrew
    Commented Mar 12, 2018 at 0:55

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