English
quack
Pronunciation Etymology 1

From Middle English *quacken, queken, from quack, qwacke, quek, queke, also kek, keke, whec-, partly of imitative origin and partly from Middle Dutch quacken, from odt *kwaken, from Proto-West Germanic *kwakōn, from Proto-Germanic *kwakaną, *kwakōną, of imitative origin.

Noun

quack (plural quacks)

  1. The sound made by a duck.
    Did you hear that duck make a quack?
Translations Verb

quack (quacks, present participle quacking; simple past and past participle quacked)

  1. To make a noise like a duck.
    The more breadcrumbs I threw on the ground, the more they quacked.
    Do you hear the ducks quack?
  2. (intransitive) Of a queen bee: to make a high-pitched sound during certain stages of development.
    Coordinate terms: toot, pipe
Translations Noun

quack (plural quacks)

  1. (pejorative) A fraudulent healer, especially a bombastic peddler in worthless treatments, a doctor who makes false diagnoses for monetary benefit, or an untrained or poorly trained doctor who uses fraudulent credentials to attract patients [from c. 1630]
    That doctor is nothing but a lousy quack!
    • 1662, Rump: or an Exact Collection of the Choycest Poems and Songs Relating to Late Times, Vol. II, by ‘the most Eminent Wits’
      Tis hard to say, how much these Arse-wormes do urge us, We now need no Quack but these Jacks for to purge us, [...]
    • 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. 8, The Electon”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC ↗, book II (The Ancient Monk):
      ‘if we are ourselves valets, there shall ‘exist no hero for us; we shall not know the hero when we see him;’ - we shall take the quack for a hero; and cry, audibly through all ballot-boxes and machinery whatsoever, Thou art he; be thou King over us!
    • 1885, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, composer, “A More Humane Mikado”, in […] The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu, London: Chappel & Co., […], →OCLC ↗, Act II, page 36 ↗:
      The advertising quack who wearies / With tales of countless cures, / His teeth, I've enacted, / Shall all be extracted / By terrified amateurs.
    • 1981, S.O.B. (film):
      Polly (to security guard, referring to Dr. Feingarten): Are you going to let that shyster in there?
      Dr. Feingarten: I could sue you, Polly. A shyster is a disreputable lawyer. I'm a quack.
  2. (figuratively, pejorative) Any similar charlatan or incompetent professional.
    • c. 1635–1636 (date written), Iohn Ford [i.e., John Ford], The Fancies, Chast and Noble: […], London: […] E[lizabeth] P[urslowe] for Henry Seile, […], published 1638, →OCLC ↗, Act III, page 32 ↗:
      The very quaik of faſhions, the very hee that / VVeares a Steletto on his chinne.
  3. (jocular slang, mildly pejorative) Any doctor.
    That quack wants me to quit smoking, eat less, and start exercising. The nerve!
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Verb

quack (quacks, present participle quacking; simple past and past participle quacked)

  1. To practice or commit quackery (fraudulent medicine).
  2. (obsolete) To make vain and loud pretensions.
    Synonyms: boast
    • 1684, Samuel Butler, Hudibras‎, London, Part 3, Canto 1, p. 18:
      Seek out for Plants with Signatures
      To Quack of Universal Cures
Adjective

quack (quacker and quackest are rare, and probably used humorously)

  1. Falsely presented as having medicinal powers.
    Don't get your hopes up; that's quack medicine!
Translations

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