▪ I. duck, n.1
(dʌk)
Forms: α. 1 duce, 4 duk, 5– duck (5 dukke, 6 ducke). β. 4–5 doke (5 dooke, 6– Sc. duke, duk, duik (deuk). γ. 4–5 douk, 5–6 dowk.
[OE. duce (? d{uacu}ce), from u- (or ū-) grade of *d{uacu}can to duck, dive; cf. Da. duk-and lit. dive-duck (and = duck), Sw. dyk-fågel lit. dive-fowl, diver; and the synonyms under ducker1.
The phonological history presents some difficulties, esp. owing to uncertainty whether the OE. vowel was u or {uacu}, and the development of the three ME. types: dukke, duk, corresp. to mod. duck; dōke, dook, corresp. to mod. Sc. duik (d{smY}k); douke, dowke. Cf., for the forms, brook v. and dove; and see Luick, Untersuch. zur Engl. Lautgeschichte (1896) §388, 553.]
I. Primary sense.
1. a. A swimming bird of the genus Anas and kindred genera of the family Anatidæ, of which species are found all over the world.
Without distinctive addition or context, the word is applied to the common domestic duck, a domesticated form of the wild duck or mallard (Anas boscas). The other species (about 125 in number, distributed among some 40 genera) are distinguished by adjuncts expressing colour, appearance, or habits, as black duck, brown duck, crested duck, dusky duck, fishing duck, grey duck, little duck, long-tailed duck, noisy duck, painted duck, pied duck, red-headed duck, ring-necked duck, ruddy duck, sleepy duck, swallow-tailed duck, tufted duck, velvet duck, whistling duck, white-faced duck, etc.; habitat, as channel-duck, creek-duck, mire-duck, moss-duck, mountain-duck, river-duck, rock-duck, sea-duck, shoal-duck, surf-duck, tree-duck, wood-duck; native region, as American duck, English duck, French duck, German duck, Labrador duck, Norway duck; or by more distinctive words as canvas-back-, Cuthbert-, eider-, harlequin-, herald-, maiden-, mandarin-, muscovy- or musk-, mussel-, penguin-, squam-duck, etc., q.v. in their alphabetical places. In its widest technical sense, the name includes the gadwalls, garganeys, golden-eyes, pintails, pochards, scaups, scoters, sheldrakes, shovellers, spoonbills, teal, whistlewings, widgeons, and other related groups; the geese and goosanders, though Anatidæ, are not usually called ‘ducks’.
| α 967 in Kemble Cod. Dipl. No. 538. III. 18 Andlang Osrices pulle þæt hit cymþ on ducan seaþe; of ducan seaþe þæt hit cymþ on Rischale. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xvii. 62 A-syde he gan hym drawe Dredfully..as duk [v.r. 5 MSS. doke] doth fram þe faucoun. c 1420 Liber Cocorum 5 Henneban sede duckys wylle kylle. 1483 Cath. Angl. 110/2 A Dukke, anas. 1530 Palsgr. 215/2 Ducke a foule, canne. Duke of the ryver, cannette. 1564 J. Rastell Confut. Jewell's Serm. 37 b, He is more neerer a ducke then a duke. 1610 Shakes. Temp. ii. ii. 136 Though thou canst swim like a Ducke, thou art made like a Goose. 1699 W. Dampier Voy. II. ii. 69 Whistling Ducks are somewhat less than our Common Duck..In flying, their Wings make a pretty sort of loud whistling Noise. 1845 Hirst Poems 162 Brooding black-duck from her nest of turf In the tall sedge. 1847 Carpenter Zool. §455 The Eiders are the largest of all the Ducks, being as weighty as the average of Geese. |
| collective pl. 1858 Ld. Malmesbury Mem. Ex-Min. (1884) II. 145 It would do for firing into a flock of duck. |
| β 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 58 He schulde..Drinken bote with þe Doke [So B. v. 75. 1393 C. vii. 174 douke] and dyne but ones. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 58 Hennes, goos, and dokis. 14.. Lat. & Eng. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 563 Anas, a doke. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 125/2 Dooke, byrde (K. doke), anas. 1486 Bk. St. Albans D ij b, Tame Dookes. Ibid. F vj, A badelyng of Dokys. 1500–20 Dunbar Fenȝeit Friar 119 Thre dayis in dub amang the dukis. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 39 The dukis cryit quaik. 1630–56 Sir R. Gordon Hist. Earls Sutherland, Duke, draig, widgeon, teale..and all other kinds of wildfowl. [Mod. Sc. duik.] |
| γ 1393 [see β] 1502 Arnolde Chron. (1811) 84 Swannes, gies, or dowkes. |
b. spec. The female of this fowl: the male being the
drake.
In the domestic state the females greatly exceed in number, hence
duck serves at once as the name of the female and of the race,
drake being a specific term of sex.
| c 1386 Chaucer Miller's T. 390 Thanne shal I swymme as myrie..As dooth the white doke after hire drake. ? c 1475 Sqr. lowe Degre 320 The tele, the ducke and the drake. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §146 Take hede how thy hennes, duckes, and gees do ley. 1678 Ray Willughby's Ornith. iii. iv. §1. 380 Between the Duck and the Drake there is this difference, that he hath growing on his Rump certain erect feathers..which she hath not. Mod. A flock of ducks swimming behind their drake. |
c. The flesh of this fowl.
| 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VI. 111 Plutarch assures us, that Cato kept his whole family in health, by feeding them with duck whenever they threatened to be out of order. |
d. Antiq. (More fully
duck-weight.) A stone or clay figure of a duck used as a weight in ancient Assyria and Babylonia.
| [1849 Layard Mon. Nineveh Ser. i. 21 A duck, in baked clay, with..a cuneiform inscription..The letters may denote a numeral.] 1853 ― Nineveh & B. xxv. 601 note, The actual weight of the large ducks in the British Museum being 480 oz. troy. |
2. In phrases and proverbial sayings.
duck's weather,
fine day for ducks, etc., referring to wet weather;
like a duck in thunder,
like a (dying) duck in a thunderstorm: having a forlorn and hopeless appearance;
like water off (or from) a duck's back,
like (or as) a duck (takes) to water: easily, readily;
does (or will, would) a duck swim?: a colloquial phrase of enthusiastic acceptance or confirmation.
| 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Apprendre, (An idle, vaine, or needlesse labour) we say, to teach his grandame to grope ducks. a 1656 R. Capel in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. ix. 18 Money, which lying long in the bank, comes home at last with a duck in its mouth. 1785 ‘P. Pindar’ Lyric Odes for 1785 21 Gaping upon Tom's thumb, with me in wonder, The rabble rais'd its eyes,—like ducks in thunder. 1802 C. Wilmot Let. 31 Jan. in Irish Peer (1920) 35 On asking him what fault he had to find with her, he look'd ‘like a Duck in Thunder’, and made me instinctively wave [sic] the investigation. 1822 Scott Peveril I. xi. 269 Closed her eyes like a dying fowl—turned them up like a duck in a thunder-storm. 1824 Blackw. Mag. XVI. 347 The thing passed off like water from a duck's back. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop ii. 81 Mr. Swiveller..observed that last week was a fine week for the ducks, and this week was a fine week for the dust. 1842 S. Lover Handy Andy iv. 35 ‘What do you say..will you dine with me?’ ‘Will a duck swim?’ chuckled out Jack Horan. 1863 Kingsley Water Bab. 188 Then he..turned up his eyes like a duck in thunder. 1867 A. D. Richardson Beyond Mississippi xiv. 177 He takes to them as instinctively as a young duck to water. 1871 [see water n. 1 f]. 1880 J. Payn Confid. Agent III. 161 Look less like a duck in a thunderstorm. 1885 Boy's Own Paper 23 May 542/3 ‘Perhaps you would not object to drinking the queen's health?’ Would a duck swim? 1889 L. B. Walford Stiffnecked Generation (1891) 321 It had all passed off like water off a duck's back. 1891 L. T. Meade Sweet Girl Graduate xvi. 133 ‘Do you really think that Maggie Oliphant cares for Mr. Hammond?’..‘Cares for him!.. Does a duck swim? Does a baby like sweet things?’ 1893 [see take v. 74 e]. 1894 Sir J. D. Astley 50 Y. of Life I. 22, I always took to shooting like a duck to water. 1906 ‘O. Henry’ Four Million (1916) 82 ‘With you, Dempsey?’ she stammered. ‘Say—will a duck swim?’ 1917 J. C. Bridge Cheshire Proverbs 72 He winks and thinks like a duck i' thunner. 1933 A. Christie Lord Edgware Dies xxii. 183 You did look for all the world like a dying duck in a thunderstorm. 1960 C. Day Lewis Buried Day vi. 107, I had taken to vice like a duck to water, but it ran off me like water from a duck's back. 1971 ‘A. Gilbert’ Tenant for Tomb i. 8 The Bear Lady said brightly that it was a nice day for the ducks. |
II. Transferred uses.
3. a. A term of endearment.
| 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. v. i. 282 O dainty Ducke: O Deere! 1607 Middleton Fam. of Love i. iii, And now, sweet duck, know I have been for my cousin Gerardine's will. 1624 Heywood Captives i. iii, For see you not too women? daynty ducks! 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xi, How is he now, my duck of diamonds? 1880 Spurgeon Serm. XXVI. 46 Her child..was so much her ‘duck’ that he grew up to be a goose. |
b. Often
a duck of a{ddd}; and applied to things as well as persons.
| 1819 M. Wilmot Let. 26 Nov. (1935) 31, I shall presently throw my letter into the long drawer at the top of my duck of a secretaire. 1841 Punch 18 Sept. 112/1 If our remarks were made with an affectionate eye to the young ladies of the satin-album-loving school, we should assuredly style this ‘a duck of a picture’. 1884 W. L. Rede Sixteen String Jack i. ii, Oh, isn't he a duck of a fellow? 1891 Farmer Slang s.v., A duck of a bonnet. |
c. With hypocoristic suffix
-s. Used as a familiar form of address.
| 1936 J. Curtis Gilt Kid viii. 81 She crossed her legs. Her thighs were white and shapeless. ‘Got a fag, ducks?’ 1958 E. Hyams Taking it Easy 200 Talked like you 'e did, ducks. 1958 Times 1 Oct. 11/6 One is waited on; called ‘sir’, not ‘ducks’. 1963 Ibid. 13 Feb. 11/4 The comfortable northern friendliness of the expression ‘ducks’ as employed by comfortable northern females to all and sundry—to warm the heart towards the species. |
4. a. Short for
lame duck: see 9.
b. A fellow, ‘customer’.
U.S. slang.| 1857 Phoenix (Sacramento) 11 Oct. 4/1 No such ‘duck’ as this could nab the ‘Ubiquitous’. 1872 ‘Mark Twain’ Roughing It xlvii. 331 Are you the duck that runs the gospel-mill next door? 1903 A. Adams Log of Cowboy ix. 125, I can't quite make out this other duck, but I reckon he's some big auger. 1904 W. H. Smith Promoters v. 100 As you said, Goldsby, Slosher's a slick duck. |
c. (See
quots.)
U.S. slang.| 1938 Amer. Speech XIII. 156/1 Duck, a flying boat. 1942 E. Colby Army Talk 76 Ducks. Air Corps men..give the name to amphibian airplanes capable of landing on water or ground. |
5. Anglo-Ind. slang. A nickname for soldiers of the Bombay Presidency.
| 1803 Elphinstone in Sir E. Colebrooke Life (1884) I. 53 (Y. Supp.) They have neither the comforts of a Bengal army, nor do they rough it, like the Ducks. 1879 Low Afghan War i. 97 The ‘Ducks’ (as the Bombay troops are called) enjoy it much. |
6. A boy's game, also called
duckstone,
duckiestone; also one of the stones used in this game, and sometimes a player.
| 1821 Blackw. Mag. Aug. 32 (Jam.) The duck is a small stone placed on a larger, and attempted to be hit off by the players at the distance of a few paces. 1888 Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Duck, a game. 1893 Cassell's Bk. Sports & Pastimes 255 The players [at Duckstone] then, standing at home, ‘pink for duck’, that is, they throw their stones towards the block, and he whose stone remains farthest from the block is first duck. |
7. Cricket slang. (Short for
duck's egg). No score, nought; also, a player who fails to score.
| 1868 St. Paul's Mag. in Daily News 24 Aug., You see..that his fear of a ‘duck’—as by a pardonable contraction from duck-egg a nought is called in cricket-play—outweighs all other earthly considerations. 1880 Daily Tel. 24 Sept., Life is very much like cricket: Some get scores and some ‘a duck’. 1885 Edin. Daily Rev. 17 Aug. 3/5 The former batter proved a duck. |
8. dial. and
slang. (See
quots.)
| 1873 Slang Dict., Duck, a bundle of bits of the ‘stickings’ of beef sold for food to the London poor. A faggot. 1876 Mid. Yorksh. Gloss., Duck, a faggot. |
9. lame duck: a disabled person or thing:
spec. (
Stock Exchange slang): one who cannot meet his financial engagements; a defaulter. Also, short,
duck.
| 1761 H. Walpole Lett. H. Mann 28 Dec. (1843) I. 60 Do you know what a Bull, and a Bear, and a Lame Duck are? 1771 Garrick Prol. to Foote's Maid of B., Change-Alley bankrupts waddle out lame ducks! 1806–7 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) xii. xviii, Attending at the Stock-exchange on settling-day amidst the quack of Ducks, the bellowings of Bulls, and the growls of Bears. 1832 Macaulay Mirabeau Misc. 1860 II. 95 Frauds of which a lame duck on the Stock exchange would be ashamed. 1889 C. D. Warner Little Journ. xvii, Do you think I have time to attend to every poor duck? |
10. Bombay duck = bummalo.
| 1860 Mason Burmah 273 (Y.) A fish nearly related to the salmon is dried and exported in large quantities from Bombay, and has acquired the name of Bombay Ducks. 1879 F. S. Bridges Round World in 6 Months 214 ‘Bombay Ducks’ are always served with curry. These are small dried fish of a peculiar flavour, and are quite dry and crisp. |
III. attrib. and
Comb. 11. a. attrib., as
duck-dance,
duck-gun,
duck-house,
duck-pond,
duck-pool,
duck-puddle,
duck-tribe.
b. objective and
obj. genitive, as
duck-decoying,
duck-fattener,
duck-fattening,
duck-hunter,
duck-hunting,
duck-keeper,
duck-rearer,
duck-rearing,
duck-shooter,
duck-shooting.
c. similative, as
duck-foot,
duck-tail;
duck-footed,
duck-hearted,
duck-like,
duck-toed adjs.| 1884 Mag. of Art Feb. 143/2 Indulging in a most ungraceful *duck-dance. |
| 1886 Athenæum 21 Aug. 230/3 Most readers of sporting books have some idea of *duck-decoying. |
| 1895 Westm. Gaz. 9 May 3/1 *Duck fatteners have to pay highly for sittings of eggs. |
| 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 350 They killed more fowls..of the *duck-foot kind. |
| 1813 P. Hawker Diary (1893) I. 85 I left my *duck gun and went to Whitchurch. 1846 Greener Sc. Gunnery 285 Never make duck-guns above seven-eights in the bore. |
| 1699 W. Dampier Voy. (1729) II. i. 45 Like so many *Duck⁓houses all wet and dirt. |
| 1730 Index of Addison's Wks. (Jod.) *Duckhunting, what Mr. Bayle compares to it. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown ii. iii, They had never been duck-hunting there since. |
| 1696 Lond. Gaz. No. 3175/4 Mr. Webbs, the *Duck-keeper in St. James's Park. |
| 1831 T. L. Peacock, Crotchet Castle 293 To live on a gravelly hill—without so much as a *duck-pond within ten miles of him. |
| 1601 Memorials of St. Giles's, Durham (Surtees) 29 For castinge of the *dooke poole and for dammynge the water at giles bridge—xxd. |
| 1893 Sinclair & Henry Swimming (Badm. Libr.) 337 Harrow..Its swimming-pond, named the ‘*duck-puddle’, is one of the finest open-air baths in England. |
| 1792 Scott Let. 10 Sept. (1932) I. 22, I have turned a keen *duck shooter, though my success is not very great. 1945 C. Mann in B. James Austral. Short Stories (1963) 72 Even old duck-shooters have now almost got used to them. |
| 1792 Scott Let. 30 Sept. 26, I have quite given up *duck-shooting for the season. 1859 J. Conway Lett. from Highlands viii. 73 A day's duck-shooting. |
12. a. Special comb.:
duck-chicken, one hatched by a hen;
duck-dive, a vertical dive down into water by a swimmer; hence as
v. intr., to make such a dive;
duck-gravel (see
quot.);
duck-ladder, a kind of short ladder;
duck-legged a., having unusually short legs: so
duck-legs;
duck-oil, water, moisture (Halliwell);
duck('s) arse,
ass (also
anatomy,
behind)
slang, a style of haircut in which the hair at the back of the head is shaped like a duck's tail (
cf. s.v. D III. 3);
duck's (or ducks') disease colloq., a facetious expression for shortness of leg; also
duck-disease;
duck-shot, shot of a size suitable for shooting wild ducks;
duck-shover Austral. and
N.Z. slang, a cabman who does not wait his turn in the rank, but touts for passengers; also
transf. (see
quot. 1941); so
duck-shove vb. intr. and
trans.,
duck-shoving vbl. n.;
duck's-off, the game duck or duckstone;
duck soup slang (
orig. and chiefly
U.S.), something requiring little effort; a person easy to overcome or cheat; a ‘cinch’;
duck-tail,
ducktail colloq., (
a)
= duck's arse (see above); (
b)
S. Afr., a young hooligan or ‘teddy-boy’;
duck-walk, a duckboard track (see
duckboard);
duck-weight = 1 d;
duck-wife, a woman who has charge of ducks. Also
duck and drake,
duck-bill,
duck's bill,
egg.
| 1969 N. Cohn AWopBopaLooBop (1970) vi. 55 He looked like another sub-Elvis, smooth flesh and *duck-ass hair. |
| 1678 T. Jones Heart & Right Sov. 201 Neither understood the other no more than *duck-chickens their hen-dam, recalling them from connatural element. |
| 1928 S. Vines Humours Unreconciled viii. 103 Mr. Sheepshanks..soon got his host expanding a theory of the ‘*duck-disease’, as he facetiously called the shortness of leg from which the Japanese were suffering. |
| 1942 G. Mitchell Laurels are Poison ix. 99 She..began to come upstream in a series of *duck-dives, testing the depth of the water. 1953 L. Charteris in J. Merril Off Beaten Orbit (1959) 114 Any good swimmer can duck-dive. 1969 ‘I. Drummond’ Man with Tiny Head xv. 176 Nigel took a deep breath, duck-dived and swam under water. |
| 1885 Daily News 14 July 2/2 *Duck-gravel, a deposit like pumicestone, into which the ducks push their bills. Every ducker's place has a lump of this duck-gravel, a coralline stuff..like little oyster shells. |
| 1883 Law Times Rep. XLIX. 139/1 He took a shorter ladder (called a *duck ladder) and placed this duck ladder against the roof. |
| 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. 263 Or, why so long, doe they make men *Duck⁓leg'd? 1714 tr. Adv. Rivella 45 Conscious of his duck Legs and long Coat. 1809 W. Irving Knickerb. (1861) 187 A little duck-legged fellow, was equipped in a pair of the general's cast-off breeches. |
| 1951 Sunday Pictorial 29 Oct., The D.A. therefore stands for *Duck's Anatomy—or some such word. |
| 1960 Wentworth & Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang 165/2 *Duck's ass,..a boy's haircut. |
| 1961 J. I. M. Stewart Man who won Pools iv. 48 His girl had..made him quit that *Duck's Behind for a straight sleeking back with oil. |
| 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words, *Ducks' disease, short-legged. 1960 B. Marshall Divided Lady i. vi. 28 Plinio, the barman with duck's disease, came running up. |
| 1960 Spectator 4 Nov. 677 As the leader of the [New Zealand] Opposition complained, the Government has ‘dodged and *duckshoved’ the issue. 1969 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 31 Aug. 5/1 Some Cabinet Ministers said that most local authorities were ‘duck shoving’ on the State's litter problem. |
| 1898 Morris Austral Eng., *Duck-shover. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 18 Jan. 3/2 A swanker and a duck⁓shover. 1941 Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 26 Duckshover, one who adopts unfair business methods. |
| 1870 N. & Q. 4th Ser. VI. 111 ‘*Duck-shoving’..is the term used by our Melbourne cabmen to express the unprofessional trick of breaking the rank, in order to push past the cabman on the stand for the purpose of picking up a stray passenger or so. 1896 Otago Daily Times 25 Jan. 3/6 (Morris), ‘Duck shoving’, a process of getting passengers which operated unfairly against the cabmen who stayed on the licensed stand and obeyed the by-law. |
| 1888–9 Longm. Mag. XIII. 516 Another [game] named ‘*ducks-off’ consisted in setting on a large flat stone a round stone..which from a certain distance one strove to knock off. |
| 1912 A. H. Lewis Apaches of N.Y. iv. 84 ‘Them Gophers are as tough a bunch as ever comes down the pike.’ ‘Tough nothin'!’ returned Slimmy: ‘they'll be *duck soup to Ike.’ 1929 D. Hammett Red Harvest xxvi. 257 it was a juicy row, while it lasted—no duck soup for the coppers at that. 1966 Ogilvy & Anderson Excurs. Number Theory i. 4 The number 307 comes out, in binary notation, to be 100110011 which would not have the convenience of 307 at the grocery store, perhaps, but is duck soup for the Computer. 1966 B. E. Wallace Murder in Touraine xvii. 52 Now all he had to do..was to..avoid a guard: it was going to be duck soup if you were the right kind of duck. |
| 1955 D. Keene Who has W. Lathrop? (1966) xi. 129 The blond youth was in this up to his *ducktail haircut. 1959 Chambers's 20th Cent. Dict. Add., Ducktail, the white Teddy Boy of South Africa. 1960 Guardian 28 Mar. 1/2 He [sc. Dr. Verwoerd] described South Africa's overseas critics as ‘the ducktails (Teddy boys) of the political world’. 1961 Personality 16 May 27, I have long since ceased to use the label ‘Teddy boy’ and now think entirely in terms of ‘ducktails’. 1961 Listener 7 Sept. 343/2 The ‘stilyagi’ with their tight trousers and duck-tail hair-dos. 1968 N.Y. Rev. Books 7 Nov. 3/3 He was buying a bottle of hair-oil..to soothe his ducktail. |
| 1915 Blackw. Mag. Apr. 449/1 Where there are no *duck-walks, we employ planks laid across the mud. 1917 War Illustr. 28 Apr. 239/2 The ‘duck-walk’ is laid for easy crossing of difficult surfaces. |
| 1869 Blackmore Lorna D. x, She counted them like a good *duck-wife. |
b. Esp. in names of animals and plants:
duck-ant, the white ant or termite;
duck-eagle, a South African species of eagle;
duck-mole, the Duck-billed Platypus;
duck-mud, Crow-silk;
duck's foot, a local name of Lady's Mantle; also the American May-apple,
Podophyllum peltatum;
duck-snipe (Bahamas), the willet,
Symphemia semipalmata;
duck-wheat = duck-bill wheat. Also
duck-hawk, -weed, etc.
| 1851 Gosse Nat. in Jamaica 283 A fragment of the earthy nest of the *Duck-ants (Termites). |
| 1731 Medley Kolben's Cape G. Hope II. 136 There is another sort of eagle in the Cape countries which the naturalists call Aquila anataria, or the *Duck-Eagle. |
| 1875 tr. Schmidt's Desc. & Darw. 237 The Ornithorhyncus, or *duck-mole of Tasmania. |
| 1884 Miller Plant-n., *Duck-mud, conferva rivularis and other delicate green-spored Algæ. |
| 1755 Johnson, *Ducks⁓foot, black snakeroot, or Mayapple. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Bled rouge, ordinarie red wheat; called by Kentishmen, *Duck-wheat. |
▪ II. duck, n.2 Also 7
douke.
[f. duck v.] An act of ducking.
1. A quick plunge, a dip.
| 1843 Prescott Mexico (1850) I. 156 note, Two singular basins..not large enough for any monarch bigger than Oberon to take a duck in. 1876 World V. No. 113. 18 The elder women content themselves with a few ducks as the waves break over them. |
2. An instantaneous lowering of head or body; a rapid jerky bow or obeisance.
| 1554 T. Sampson in Strype Eccl. Mem. III. App. xviii. 46 The fond nods, crosses, becks, and ducks. 1634 Milton Comus 960 Without duck or nod. a 1652 Brome New Acad. i. Wks. 1873 II. 19 Be ready with your napkin, and a lower douke, maid. 1802 Lamb J. Woodvil ii. Wks. 612 The ducks, and nods Which weak minds pay to rank. 1879 S. St. John Life Sir J. Brooke 268 The ball rushing over our heads, caused a most undignified duck. |
▪ III. duck, n.3 [Known only from 17th c.; app. a. 17th c. Du. doeck ‘linnen or linnen cloath’ (Hexham 1678); = Ger. tuch, Icel. d{uacu}kr, Sw. duk.] 1. A strong untwilled linen (or later, cotton) fabric, lighter and finer than canvas; used for small sails and men's (
esp. sailors') outer clothing.
In the earlier half of the 19th c. much worn for trousers.
| 1640 in Entick London (1766) II. 169 Duck hinderlands, middle good headlock. 1660 Act 12 Chas. II, c. 4 Sched., Drilling & pack ducke ye 100 ells cont. 6 score. 1780 T. Jefferson Lett. Writ. 1893 II. 329 What is to be done for tents, I know not. I am assured that very little duck can be got in this country. 1835 Marryat Jac. Faithf. ii, A shirt of coarse duck. 1883 T. Hardy in Longm. Mag. July 258 The genuine white smock-frock of Russia duck and the whity-brown one of drabbet, are rarely seen now afield. |
2. pl. Trousers of this material.
| 1825 Universal Songster 305 T'other day I saw a goose in white ducks. 1829 Miss Sheridan in Lett. etc. Dk. Somerset (1893), The boys were in white ducks, with lightish green jackets. 1849 Thackeray Pendennis xxv, They must be young Pendennis's white ducks. |
3. attrib. and
Comb.| 1745 Gentl. Mag. 485 Coopers, duck-weavers, hemp-dressers. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 403 There is a duck manufactory at Boston. 1849 Thackeray Pendennis xxxvi, In a blue frock-coat and spotless white duck trowsers. |
▸
duck tape n. a strong adhesive tape made of waterproofed cotton fabric (a proprietary name in the United States);
cf. duct tape n. at
duct n. Additions
In
quot. 1899 the sense is apparently ‘a decorative strip of duck’.
| 1899 Daily Picayune (New Orleans) 8 Feb. 3/5 In the washable suits for later wear pique and *duck tape take the lead, especially in white and dark blue. 1902 Brooklyn Daily Eagle 21 Nov. 15/2 Considering..that 100,000 yards of cotton duck tape must be wrapped around the cable [of the Brooklyn bridge] with neatness and exactitude, it may be imagined that this method of cable preservation is quite expensive. 1996 Woman's Day (Sydney) 3 June 19/3 When we decided to move on to our private camp out in the wilds of the Masai Mara, we had a little problem with the nose of the plane, which we had to tape shut with duck tape! |
▪ IV. duck, n.4 orig. U.S. (
dʌk)
Also
D.U.K.W.,
dukw.
[DUKW is a combination of factory serial letters designating certain features of the vehicle.] An amphibious vehicle (see
quots.).
| 1943 War Illustr. 15 Oct. 301 ‘Ducks’ they are called in soldier slang, and it is easy to see why. In the first place there is something duck-like about these queer motor-barges-cum-trucks which are as much at home on the sea as on the land; and then their factory serial letters placed together spell ‘Dukws’. 1944 Hansard Commons 2 Aug. 1466 The marvellous American invention, the ‘Duck’, spelt D.U.K.W., is a heavy lorry which goes at between 40 and 50 miles per hour along the road, and can plunge into the water and swim out for miles to sea in quite choppy weather. 1945 [see amphibious a. 2 b]. 1945 Manch. Guardian 18 July 5/2 Officially known as ‘Dukws’—a combination of the factory serial letters D for boat, U for lorry body, and KW for lorry chassis—they quickly became known in the Army and Navy as ‘Ducks’. 1958 Observer 14 Sept. 1/1 Supply craft might stand offshore and disgorge their cargoes into ducks and other smaller craft. |
▪ V. duck, v. (
dʌk)
Forms: α. 3–5 (
Sc. 6)
duke, 4–6
douke, 5–6 (
Sc. and
north. dial. –9)
douk,
dowk(e, 6 (
Sc. 7–9)
dook; β. 6
ducke, (
dokk), 6–
duck.
[The ME. forms (= duːk), correspond to an
OE. type
*d{uacu}can = MDu.,
MLG. and
LG. dûken (
Da. duiken),
OHG. tûhhan,
MHG. tûchen, G.
tauchen, a
WGer. strong
vb. of 2nd ablaut series (with
û instead of
eu,
iu in
pres. stem). This form is still preserved in
Sc. douk,
dook (
duk); but about the middle of the 16th c., it was shortened in
Eng. to
duck,
prob. by assimilation to
duck n.1 Cf. however
MHG. and
Ger. ducken (
MHG. also
tucken,
tücken) to duck, dive, etc.:—
*dukjan; also
Sw. dyka to duck, dive.]
I. intr. 1. a. To plunge or dive, or suddenly go down under water, and emerge again; to dip the head rapidly under water.
| c 1340 Cursor M. 23203 (Trin.) He þat doukeþ ones þer doun. a 1400–50 Alexander 4090 It was..bred full..Of dragons..& doukand neddirs. 1481 Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 60 They conne wel also duke in the water after lapwynches and dokys. 1552 Huloet, Ducke vnder the water, vide in dyue. 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 182 The outward sacrament of dipping or ducking in the water. 1652–62 Heylin Cosmogr. iv. (1682) 7 Though (to avoid their Darts) he sometimes ducked, yet held he still his left hand above the water. 1855 Robinson Whitby Gloss., To Douk, to bathe or plunge under water, to duck. 1890 Spectator 9 Aug. 167/2 It [a torpedo] will be able ‘to duck’ under the defensive nettings carried by men-of-war. Mod. Sc. To dook for apples at Hallowe'en. |
b. To make a sudden descent or dive, not under water.
| 1513 Douglas æneis v. xiii. 126 Quhill all the wallis doukis to the ground, Wndir the braing quhelis and asiltre. a 1851 Moir Poems, Snow ii, Behold the trees Their fingery boughs stretch out..As they duck and drive about. 1870 Dickens E. Drood iii, Receiving the foul fiend, when he ducks from its stage into the infernal regions. |
2. a. To bend or stoop quickly so as to lower the body or head; to bob; to make a jerking bow; hence,
fig. to cringe, yield; so,
to duck under.
| 1530 Palsgr. 526/1, I dowke, I stowpe lowe as a frere doth. 1535 Coverdale Ecclus. xix. 24 A wicked man can behaue himself humbly, and can douke with his heade. 1539 Surrender of Monasteries in Rymer Fœdera (1710) XIV. 611 Dokkyng, Nodding and Beckynge. 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe (1871) 89 Douking on all four unto him. 1630 S. Lennard tr. Charron's Wisd. (1658) 73 To duck and stoop to all sorts of people. 1713 Pope Guardian No. 92 ¶5 He never once ducked at the whiz of a cannon-ball. 1869 Browning Ring & Bk. viii. 1407 Law ducks to Gospel here. 1872 Geo. Eliot Middlem. (1878) I. iii. 352 Eat cold mutton, have to..duck under in any sort of a way. 1887 Besant The World went v. 42 [I] was comforted to see the men at the guns, none of them killed, and none of them ducking. |
b. To back out, withdraw; to make off, abscond; to default.
colloq. (
orig. U.S.).
| 1896 Ade Artie ii. 9, I think I'll have to duck on that present. 1900 ― Fables in Slang 42 Having delivered herself of these Helpful Remarks she would Duck. 1910 W. M. Raine B. O'Connor 249 Coming through the cañon Del Oro in the night, he ducked; I reckon he's in Mexico now. 1911 H. S. Harrison Queed xxi. 270 It's about over. And now I must pay for my fun—duck back to the office. 1917 H. L. Wilson Ruggles of Red Gap ii. 26, I duck out every morning before she's up. 1919 Wodehouse Damsel in Distress xvi, He saw me, too, and what do you think he did? Ducked down a side-street, if you please. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 7/3 A wealthy bachelor, he ducked away from a question on the extent of his financial resources. |
c. trans. To get away from, to avoid, dodge (a person or thing).
colloq. (
orig. U.S.).
| 1896 Ade Artie vi. 55 He was with a lot o' them Prairie avenue boys, and purty soon he ducks 'em and comes over an' touches me for two cases. 1926 J. Black You can't Win vii. 80 We'll get a passenger train out of Cheyenne, kid, if we can duck Jeff Carr. 1928 Daily Tel. 6 Nov. 13/3 (American Election) Both sides, he says, have ‘ducked’ the problems of Labour and foreign policy. 1936 ‘R. Hyde’ Passport to Hell 155 Soldiers who had ducked the church parades since the beginning of the War fell out of the lines to pray there. 1959 M. M. Kaye House of Shade vi. 79, I should like to duck the whole situation by getting roaring drunk. 1963 Listener 21 Feb. 351/1 His peculiar play certainly ducked the questions of subjective and objective judgments that he chose to raise in Radio Times. |
II. trans. 3. To plunge (a person or thing) momentarily
in,
into, or
under water or other liquid.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 23203 He that es duked ans dun. c 1450 Henryson Mor. Fab. 27 In the water either twyse or thryse Hee dowked him. 1553 Note in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 266 Ducked at yardes arme, and so discharged. 1582–8 Hist. James VI (1804) 105 They were dukit in a deepe loche, ouer the head thrie seueral tymes. 1598 Stow Surv. xi. (1603) 95 Ouerthrowne, and well dowked. 1631 Rutherford Lett. (1862) I. 78 Howbeit, ye may be ducked, but ye cannot drown. 1751 in Hone Every-day Bk. I. 1045 A man and woman are to be publicly ducked at Tring. 1785 Burns Jolly Begg., 4th Recit., And had in monie a well been dooked. 1790 A. Wilson To E. Picken Poet. Wks. (1846) 109 While I can douk in ink a quill. 1820 Scott Abbot ii. I say, duck her in the loch, and then we will see whether she is witch or not. |
4. To lower (the head, etc.) suddenly and momentarily; to jerk down.
| 1598 E. Guilpin Skial. (1878) 57 But bring them to the charge, then..Though but a false fire, they theyr plumes will duck. 1617 Markham Caval. ii. 81 If..he haue taken a custome to duck downe his head, when he standeth still. 1727 Swift To Delany 3 When..first he hears The bullets whistling round his ears, Will duck his head. 1884 Gilmour Mongols 240 We..ducked our heads, and hurried into the tent. |
5. duck up (
Naut.): To raise with a jerk, haul up (a sail that obstructs the steersman's view).
| 1706 Phillips s.v., ‘Duck up the Clew-lines of those Sails’. |
6. trans. and intr. In the game of Bridge (see
quots.).
| 1905 R. F. Foster Complete Bridge 263 Ducking..is refusing to part with the command of your own suit, and is usually resorted to in situations in which no finesse is possible. Ibid. 264 The dealer sees that it is impossible to catch the K, Q, 10 of spades, so he ducks the suit by leading a small card. Ibid. 266 As there is no card in dummy's hand but the club ace that will bring the suit into play, that card must be kept as a re-entry until the third round, and the first two rounds of the suit must be ducked. Ibid. 312 Ducking.—Refusing to win tricks when able to do so. 1928 Daily Express 27 Aug. 4 You can frequently make the most of a suit by deliberately losing the first trick. This method of play, called ‘ducking’, is founded not only on the law of average probabilities but also on the expectation that the cards are normally distributed. |
▪ VI. duck obs. form of
duke,
tuck.