Makes a sharp, clicking sound repeatedly, like fingers tapping on a keyboard or typewriter keys striking paper.
Imitative origin—'clack' mimics the actual sound it describes, similar to how 'click,' 'crack,' and 'knock' work. Used in English since at least the 1500s to represent percussion sounds.
The Jacquard loom, invented in 1804 to weave patterns automatically, made constant clacking sounds that inspired early computer punch-card technology—so clacking literally helped birth computing!
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