duck - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English ducken, duken, douken (“to duck, plunge under water, submerge”), from Old English *dūcan (“to dip, dive, duck”), from Proto-West Germanic *dūkan, from Proto-Germanic *dūkaną (“to dip, dive, bend down, stoop, duck”).

Cognates

Related to Scots dulk (“to duck”), Middle Dutch ducken (“to duck”), Low German ducken (“to duck”), German ducken (“to duck”), Danish dukke, dykke (“to dive”). Related also to Scots dook, douk (“to bathe, drench, soak, baptise”), West Frisian dûke (“to plunge, dive”), Dutch duiken (“to dive, plunge, duck”), Low German duken (“to duck, dive, stoop”), German tauchen (“to dive, plunge, immerse, duck”), Swedish dyka (“to dive, submerge”).

duck (third-person singular simple present ducks, present participle ducking, simple past and past participle ducked)

  1. (transitive) To quickly lower (the head or body), often in order to prevent it from being struck by something.
    • 1989, Grant Naylor, Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers:
      Rimmer ducked his body low into his chair, so just his head remained above the table top, and peered past the backs of the examinees in front of him, waiting for the adjudicator to make his move.
  2. (transitive) To lower (something) into water; to thrust or plunge under liquid and suddenly withdraw.
  3. (intransitive) To go under the surface of water and immediately reappear; to plunge one's head into water or other liquid.
  4. (intransitive) To bow.
  5. (transitive, figurative) To evade doing something, especially something considered a responsibility.
    • 2018 July 21, Kathryn Hughes, “The strange cult of Emily Brontë and the 'hot mess' of Wuthering Heights”, in The Guardian‎[1]:
      Victorian women choosing to duck the demands of domestic life to spend their time doing something they enjoyed is hardly a novel idea.
    • 2023 July 12, Mel Holley, “Network News: RDG presses ahead with ticket office closure plan”, in RAIL, number 987, page 7:
      But pressed by Labour's Marsha de Cordov in the House of Commons on June 29, on "whether he plans to reduce the total number of ticket offices", Merriman ducked the question but confirmed that the Government wants to close ticket offices.
    • 2024 January 19, Jonathan Freedland, “There is still a way to stop Donald Trump – but time is running out”, in The Guardian‎[2], →ISSN:
      That was the moment, but Senate Republicans ducked it.
  6. (transitive) To lower the volume of (a sound) so that other sounds in the mix can be heard more clearly.
    • 2007, Alexander U. Case, Sound FX: unlocking the creative potential of recording studio effects, page 183:
      The music is ducked under the voice.
  7. (intransitive, colloquial) To enter a place for a short moment.
    I'm just going to duck into the loo for a minute; can you hold my bag?

to quickly lower the head or body (intransitive)

to quickly lower the head (transitive)

to lower into the water

to try to evade doing something

duck (plural ducks)

  1. (caving) A cave passage containing water with low, or no, airspace.

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)

From Middle English doke, ducke, dukke, dokke, douke, duke, from Old English duce, dūce (“duck”, literally “dipper, diver, ducker”), from Old English *dūcan (“to dip, dive, duck”), from Proto-West Germanic *dūkan, from Proto-Germanic *dūkaną (“to dive, bend down”). See verb above.

Cognates

Cognate with Scots duik, duke, dook (“duck”), Danish dukand, dykand (“sea-duck”), Swedish dykfågel (“a diver, diving bird, plungeon”), Dutch duiker (“diving bird, loon”, literally “diver, dipper, plunger”), German Low German Düker (“diving bird, loon”, literally “diver”), German Taucher (“diving bird, loon, grebe”, literally “diver, plunger”).

For the meaning development compare Russian ныро́к (nyrók, “pochard”) (< ныря́ть (nyrjátʹ, “to dive”)).

duck (countable and uncountable, plural ducks or **duck)

  1. Any of certain aquatic birds of the family Anatidae, having a flat bill and webbed feet, distinguished from swans and geese by generally being smaller and shorter-necked.
    Hyponyms: drake, duckling
    • 2023 May 18, David McElhenney, “13 of Japan’s best castles”, in CNN‎[3]:
      Matsumoto Castle exhibits the architecture of both war and peace, from its steep wooden stairs, hidden inner levels and archer’s perches to the moon-viewing room added in 1630, which also offers a vantage point for viewing the brocaded carps and ducks residing in the castle moat.
    • 2025 January 23, John Towfighi, “Stripe accidentally sends image of cartoon duck to laid-off employees”, in CNN‎[4]:
      The payment processor’s layoffs and the curious incident of the duck were first reported by Business Insider.
  2. Specifically, an adult female duck; contrasted with drake and with duckling.
    Synonym: (rare) duckess
  3. (uncountable) The flesh of a duck used as food.
    Synonyms: duckflesh, duckmeat
  4. (cricket) A batsman's score of zero after getting out. (Short for duck's egg.)
  5. (slang) A playing card with the rank of two.
  6. Ellipsis of architectural duck; a building intentionally constructed in the shape of an everyday object to which it is related.
    Synonym: duck building
    Coordinate term: duck architecture
    A luncheonette in the shape of a coffee cup is particularly conspicuous, as is intended of an architectural duck or folly.
    • 2007 February 21, Cynthia Blair, “It Happened on Long Island: 1988—Suffolk County Adopts the Big Duck”, in Newsday:
      The Big Duck has influenced the world of architecture; any building that is shaped like its product is called a ‘duck’.
    • 2017 July 8, Syed, Sabrina, ArchDaily‎[5]:
      Love them or hate them, ducks have a light-hearted presence in our architectural history.
    • 2019 June 10, Gotthardt, Alexxa, “The Quirky, Endearing Tradition of “Duck” Architecture”, in artsy.net‎[6]:
      Today, “ducks” continue to crop up across America and beyond, but they are no longer relegated to strips and roadsides alone; in many cases, they’ve entered the tight-knit landscape of cities ...
    • 2025 September 30, Duck Duck Shed‎[7]:
      In Las Vegas, Ducks thrive because resorts often transform themselves into oversized symbols of the fantasy they promise.
  7. A marble to be shot at with another marble (the shooter) in children's games.
  8. (US) A cairn used to mark a trail.
  9. One of the weights used to hold a spline in place for the purpose of drawing a curve.
  10. (finance, slang, dated) Synonym of lame duck (“one who cannot fulfil their contracts”).
  11. (medicine) A long-necked medical urinal for men; a bed urinal.
  12. (UK, slang, obsolete) A faggot; a meatball made from offal.
  13. (US, LGBTQ, prison slang) Synonym of bitch (“a man forced or coerced into a homosexual relationship, especially in prison”).

aquatic bird of the family Anatidae

female duck

flesh of a duck used as food

Translations to be checked

From Dutch doek, from Middle Dutch doeck, doec (“linen cloth”), from Old Dutch *dōc, from Proto-West Germanic *dōk, from Proto-Germanic *dōkaz (“cloth, rag”), from Proto-Indo-European *dwōg-, *dwōk-. Cognate with German Tuch (“cloth”), Swedish duk (“cloth, canvas”), Icelandic dúkur (“cloth, fabric”). Doublet of doek.

duck (countable and uncountable, plural ducks)

  1. A tightly-woven cotton or linen fabric, often used as sailcloth.
    Synonym: duckcloth
    Hypernyms: cloth, fabric, textile, material (fabric sense) < material (matter sense), matter, stuff
    Coordinate terms: waxed cotton, cotton wax, tarpaulin
    Near-synonym: sailduck
    • 1912, Katherine Mansfield, “The Woman At The Store”, in Selected Short Stories:
      He was dressed in a Jaeger vest—a pair of blue duck trousers, fastened round the waist with a plaited leather belt.
  2. (in the plural) Trousers made of such material.
    • 1918 March, Rebecca West [pseudonym; Cicily Isabel Fairfield], chapter III, in The Return of the Soldier, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., published 1918, →OCLC, pages 67–68:
      And they would go up and find old Allington, in white ducks, standing in the fringe of long grasses and cow-parsley on the other edge of the island, looking to his poultry or his rabbits.
    • 1954, Doris Lessing, A Proper Marriage, HarperPerennial, published 1995, page 74:
      A native servant emerged, anonymous in his white ducks and red fez, to say My Player was wanted on the telephone.

cotton fabric

Potteries dialect, Black Country dialect and dialects of the former territory of Mercia (central England). Compare Danish dukke (“doll”), Swedish docka (“baby; doll”), dialectal English doxy (“sweetheart”).

duck (plural ducks)

  1. A term of endearment; pet; darling.
  2. (Midlands) Dear, mate (informal way of addressing a friend or stranger).
    Ay up duck, ow'a'tha?

Denominal verb of duck (noun) and ellipsis of rubber duck

duck (third-person singular simple present ducks, present participle ducking, simple past and past participle ducked)

  1. (transitive) To surreptitiously leave a rubber duck on someone's parked Jeep as an act of kindness (see Jeep ducking).
    • 2020 July 29, Susannah Sudborough, “It may sound quacky, but Jeep ducking is a real thing and it's right here in Taunton”, in Taunton Daily Gazette‎[9], Taunton, Massachusetts:
      The couple has gotten messages from people they've ducked saying how happy it made them, and even some saying they might also start ducking.
    • 2022 September 13, Breana Noble, “'World's largest rubber duck' at Detroit auto show celebrates Jeep 'ducking' movement”, in The Detroit News‎[10]:
      She didn't even notice the duck on her vehicles when she first was ducked in spring.

duck

  1. singular imperative of ducken

duck

  1. alternative form of duk (“duke”)