Pronunciation Verb
duck (ducks, present participle ducking; past and past participle ducked)
- (intransitive) To quickly lower the head or body in order to prevent it from being struck by something.
- (transitive) To quickly lower (the head) in order to prevent it from being struck by something.
- (transitive) To lower (something) into water; to thrust or plunge under liquid and suddenly withdraw.
- Adams, after ducking the squire twice or thrice, leaped out of the tub.
- (intransitive) To go under the surface of water and immediately reappear; to plunge one's head into water or other liquid.
- In Tiber ducking thrice by break of day.
- (intransitive) To bow.
- c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens
- The learned pate / Ducks to the golden fool.
- c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens
- (transitive) To evade doing something.
- (transitive) To lower the volume of (a sound) so that other sounds in the mix can be heard more clearly.
- (intransitive) To enter a place for a short moment.
- I'm just going to duck into the loo for a minute, can you hold my bag?
- (to lower the head) duck down
- (to lower into the water) dip, dunk
- (to lower in order to prevent it from being struck by something) dip
- French: esquiver
- German: sich ducken, sich schnell bücken
- Portuguese: agachar-se, abaixar-se
- Russian: пригиба́ться
- Spanish: agachar, esconder
duck
- An aquatic bird of the family Anatidae, having a flat bill and webbed feet.
- Specifically, an adult female duck; contrasted with drake and with duckling.
- (uncountable) The flesh of a duck used as food.
- (cricket) A batsman's score of zero after getting out. (short for duck's egg, since the digit "0" is round like an egg.)
- (slang) A playing card with the rank of two.
- A partly-flooded cave passage with limited air space.
- A building intentionally constructed in the shape of an everyday object to which it is related.
- A luncheonette in the shape of a coffee cup is particularly conspicuous, as is intended of an architectural duck or folly.
- 2007, Cynthia Blair, "It Happened on Long Island: 1988—Suffolk County Adopts the Big Duck," Newsday, 21 Feb.:
- The Big Duck has influenced the world of architecture; any building that is shaped like its product is called a ‘duck’.
- A marble to be shot at with another marble (the shooter) in children's games.
- (US) A cairn used to mark a trail.
- One of the weights used to hold a spline in place for the purpose of drawing a curve.
- (finance, slang, dated) Synonym of lame duck#English|lame duck (“one who cannot fulfil their contracts”)
- (medicine) A long-necked medical urinal for men.
- French: cane, canard femelle
- German: Ente, Entenweibchen, weibliche Ente
- Portuguese: pata
- Russian: у́тка
- Spanish: pata
- Russian: нуль
- Spanish: cero
- Russian: дво́йка
duck (plural ducks)
A tightly-woven cotton fabric used as sailcloth. - 1912, Katherine Mansfield, "The Woman At The Store", from Selected Short Stories:
- He was dressed in a Jaeger vest—a pair of blue duck trousers, fastened round the waist with a plaited leather belt.
- 1912, Katherine Mansfield, "The Woman At The Store", from Selected Short Stories:
- (in plural) Trousers made of such material.
- 1918, Rebecca West, The Return of the Soldier, Virago 2014, page 56:
- And they would go up and find old Allington, in white ducks, standing in the fringe of long grasses and cow-parsley on the other edge of the island […].
- 1954, Doris Lessing, A Proper Marriage, HarperPerennial 1995, p. 74:
- A native servant emerged, anonymous in his white ducks and red fez, to say My Player was wanted on the telephone.
- 1918, Rebecca West, The Return of the Soldier, Virago 2014, page 56:
- Italian: olona
- Russian: паруси́на
duck (plural ducks)
- A term of endearment; pet; darling.
- And hold-fast is the only dog, my duck (William Shakespeare - The Life of King Henry the Fifth, Act 2, Scene 3).
- (Midlands) Dear, mate (informal way of addressing a friend or stranger).
- Ay up duck, ow'a'tha?
- See Thesaurus:friend
Duck
Pronunciation
- IPA: /dʌk/
- Surname
- A town in North Carolina.
- An unincorporated community in West Virginia.
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