ˈmusk-duck
1. A tropical American duck, Cairina moschata, erroneously called the Muscovy and Barbary duck.
It is now domesticated and is larger than the common duck.
| 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VI. 130 The Muscovy duck, or, more properly speaking, the Musk Duck, so called from a supposed musky smell,..a native of Africa. 1824 Shaw's Gen. Zool. XII. ii. 81 They have obtained the name of Musk-duck from their musky smell. 1877 Newton in Encycl. Brit. VII. 506/2 The Musk-duck (Cairina) of South America, which is often domesticated and in that condition will produce fertile hybrids with the common Duck. |
2. An Australian duck, Biziura lobata, so called from the musky odour of the male.
| 1834 Proc. Zool. Soc. ii. 19 A specimen was exhibited of the Musk Duck of New Holland, Hydrobates lobatus Temm. 1880 L. A. Meredith Tasmanian Friends & Foes 159 That's a musk duck... The whole bird has a strange odour of musk, rendering it quite uneatable. |