quack-quack
(ˈkwækˈkwæk)
[Imitative: see quack n.2]
An imitation of the note of a duck; a nursery name for a duck.
| 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. iii. xv, Mew says the cat, Quack⁓quack says the duck. 1869 Ouida Puck xxxviii. (1873) 491 [They] could not themselves tell for their lives..a canvas⁓back duck from a quack-quack of the gutter. 1889 Mivart Truth 226 ‘Quack-quack’ and ‘gee-gee’ are just as good abstract universal terms as ‘duck’ and ‘horse’. |
Hence quack-quacking vbl. n.
| 1824 Carlyle tr. Wilhelm Meister (1864) II. 257 As the duck on the pond..to the future quack-quacking and gibble⁓gabbling of his life. |