See Also: Roast duck with crispy duck hash and local beer gravy, spring greens and glazed carrots(recipes)
Duck breast with smoked potatoes, glazed baby turnips, leek crisps with buttered winter greens and duck jus(recipes)
duck(encyclopedia)
duck(5)(dictionary)
Duck(medicine)
duck(4)(dictionary)
duck(3)(dictionary)
sea duck(medicine)
duck(2)(dictionary)
duck(1)(dictionary)

duck(1) (iou)



duck noun1. Pl. -s, (in sense 1, also) same.
[Old English duce or duce, from Germanic base of DUCK verb.]
Any of numerous swimming-birds belonging to the family Anatidae, distinguished from the swans and geese (also Anatidae) esp. by their generally smaller size. Also spec., any of the domesticated forms of the mallard or wild duck Anas platyrhynchos. OE.
dabbling duck, diving duck, eider duck, ferruginous duck, harlequin duck, long-tailed duck, mandarin duck, Muscovy duck, ruddy duck, shelduck, swallow-tailed duck, tree duck, tufted duck, velvet duck, wood duck, etc.
b. spec. The female of this fowl, (the male being the drake). LME.
c. The flesh of this fowl as food. L18.
a. As a term of familiarity or endearment: darling, dear; an attractive thing. Cf. DUCKS, DUCKY noun. colloq. L16.
C. H. Spurgeon Her child..was so much her 'duck' that he grew up to be a goose. Sun Nutty Nottingham Council has banned workers calling each other 'love' or 'duck' under new anti-sexism laws.
b. A fellow, a chap; an individual. slang (chiefly US). M19.
M. Twain Are you the duck that runs the gospel-mill next door?
A British soldier of the Bombay Presidency. colloq. (now Hist.). E19.
A children's game in which a small stone is placed on a larger and the players throw stones to try to dislodge it; the target stone used in this. E19.
Cricket. Orig. duck egg, duck's egg. A score of nought by a batsman. M19.
F. Raphael Julia clean-bowled him for a duck.
A savoury meatball, a faggot. L19.
Phrases: a duck of a a dear, sweet, pretty, or desirable . BOMBAY DUCK. break one's duck: see BREAK verb. dead duck slang (orig. US) a useless person or thing, a failure, a bankrupt. ducks and drakes, duck and drake a pastime in which a flat stone is bounced across the surface of water; idle play (make ducks and drakes of, play ducks and drakes with, trifle with, use recklessly, squander). fine weather for ducks wet, rainy weather. lame duck a disabled or powerless person or thing; spec. a person or company who cannot meet financial obligations. like a duck in thunder, like a duck in a thunderstorm, like a dying duck in a thunderstorm with upturned eyes, looking flabbergasted or distressed. like water off a duck's back producing no effect. Lord love a duck: see LOVE verb 1. ruptured duck: see RUPTURE verb 1. sitting duck a target that one cannot (or should not) miss. take to something like a duck to water take to something very readily.
Comb.: duck ant a termite; duck arse, duck's arse, (US) duck ass, duck's ass a hairstyle with the back hair tapered like a duck's tail; abbreviation d.a.; duckbill (a) = PLATYPUS; (b) duckbill wheat, red wheat or rivet-wheat; (c) = duck's bill below; (d) = duck-billed dinosaur below; duck-billed having a bill like a duck; duck-billed dinosaur, a hadrosaur; duck-billed PLATYPUS; duckboard a (slatted) board laid to facilitate movement over soft ground or fragile surfaces; duck decoy = DECOY noun 1; duck-dive noun & verb (make) a vertical dive down into the water; duck egg, duck's egg(a) the egg of a duck; (b) see sense 5 above; (c) a pale greenish-blue colour (freq. attrib.); duck hawk (a) N. Amer. the peregrine; (b) dial. the marsh harrier; duckmeat, duck's meat = duckweed below; duck-mole Austral. = PLATYPUS; duck mussel a freshwater bivalve mollusc, Anodonta anatina, smaller and darker than the related swan mussel; duckpin US a short squat bowling pin; duck's egg: see duck egg above; duck-shot: of a size suitable for shooting wild ducks; duck-shove verb intrans. & trans. (Austral. & NZ slang) jump a queue (orig. of a taxi not waiting on the rank); engage in sharp practice, evade responsibility (for). duck's meat: see duckmeat above; duck soup slang (orig. & chiefly US) an easy task, a pushover; duck's arse, duck's ass: see duck arse above; duck's bill (an object having the spatulate shape of) the bill of a duck (freq. attrib.); duck's disease joc. short legs; duckstone = sense 4 above; ducktail (a) S. Afr. a young hooligan; (b) = duck arse above; duck-walk (a) a duckboard track; (b) a waddle; a walk in a squatting position; duckweed any of various tiny aquatic plants belonging to the genus Lemna and related genera of the family Lemnaceae, which freq. carpet the surface of stagnant water and which consist of a flattened or gibbous frond bearing a minute flower in a lateral pocket; collect. a mass of such plants.