Verb duck (ducks, present participle ducking; simple past and past participle ducked)
- (intransitive) To quickly lower the head or body, often in order to prevent it from being struck by something.
- Duck! There's a branch falling off the tree!
- (transitive) To quickly lower (the head or body), often in order to prevent it from being struck by something.
c. 1729, Jonathan Swift,
To Dr. Delany on the Libels Written Against Him:
As some raw youth in country bred,
To arms by thirst of honour led,
When at a skirmish first he hears
The bullets whistling round his ears,
Will duck his head aside
1989, Grant Naylor,
Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers:
Rimmer ducked his body low into his chair, so just his head remained above the table top, and peered past the backs of the examinees in front of him, waiting for the adjudicator to make his move.
- (transitive) To lower (something) into water; to thrust or plunge under liquid and suddenly withdraw.
1742, Henry Fielding, “A Scene of Roasting Very Nicely Adapted to the Present Taste and Times”, in
The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews, and of His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams. […], volume II, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […],
→OCLC ↗, book III,
page 122 ↗:
Adams after ducking the Squire tvvice 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.
1693, Aulus Persius Flaccus, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus.] The Satyr”, in
The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: Printed for Jacob Tonson […],
→OCLC ↗,
page 22 ↗:
[…] In Tiber ducking thrice, by break of day […]
- (intransitive) To bow.
c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in
Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623,
→OCLC ↗, [Act IV, scene iii],
page 90 ↗, column 2:
The Learned pate / Duckes to the Golden Foole.
- (transitive, figurative) 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, colloquial) 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?
Synonyms - (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
Translations Translations Translations Translations Noun duck (plural ducks)
- (caving) A cave passage containing water with low, or no, airspace.
Etymology 2 From Middle English doke, ducke, dukke, dokke, douke, duke, from Old English duce, dūce ("duck"), from Old English *dūcan, from Proto-West Germanic *dūkan, from Proto-Germanic *dūkaną.
Cognate with Scots duik, duke, dook ("duck"), Danish dukand, dykand ("sea-duck"), Swedish dykfågel, Middle Dutch duycker, Low German düker.
For the meaning development compare with Russian ныро́к (nyrók, “pochard”) connected with ныря́ть ("to dive").
Noun 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 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.
- 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
- (medicine) A long-necked medical urinal for men; a bed urinal.
- (UK, slang, obsolete) A faggot; a meatball made from offal.
- (US, LGBT, prison slang) Synonym of bitch.
Translations Translations - French: cane, canard femelle
- German: Ente, Entenweibchen, weibliche Ente
- Portuguese: pata
- Russian: у́тка
- Spanish: pata
Translations Translations Translations Etymology 3 From Dutch doek, from Middle Dutch doeck, doec ("linen cloth"), from odt *dōc, from Proto-West Germanic *dōk, from Proto-Germanic *dōkaz, from Proto-Indo-European *dwōg-, *dwōk-.
Noun duck
- A tightly-woven cotton fabric used as sailcloth.
1912, Katherine Mansfield, “The Woman At The Store”, in
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.
- (in plural) Trousers made of such material.
1918 March, Rebecca West [pseudonym; Cicily Isabel Fairfield], chapter III, in
The Return of the Soldier, 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co.,
→OCLC ↗,
pages 67–68 ↗:
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, looking to his poultry or his rabbits.
Related terms Translations Etymology 4 Potteries dialect, Black Country dialect and dialects of the former territory of Mercia (central England). Compare Danish dukke, Swedish docka, dialectal English doxy.
Noun duck (plural ducks)
- A term of endearment; pet; darling.
1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in
Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623,
→OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene iii],
page 75 ↗, column 2:
[…] and hold-faſt is the onely Dogge: My Ducke […]
- (Midlands) Dear, mate (informal way of addressing a friend or stranger).
- Ay up duck, ow'a'tha?
Synonyms Verb duck (ducks, present participle ducking; simple past and past participle ducked)
- (transitive) To surreptitiously leave a rubber duck on someone's parked Jeep as an act of kindness (see Jeep ducking).
Duck
Etymology The surname is originally a nickname from Middle English doke.
Pronunciation Proper noun - Surname.
- A town in North Carolina.
- An unincorporated community in West Virginia.
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