# duck
## English
### Pronunciation

* enPR: dŭk, IPA: /dʌk/
** Audio (US):(file)
** Audio (General Australian):(file)
* (Northern England, Ireland) IPA: /dʊk/
* Rhymes: -ʌk

### Etymology 1

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”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewb- (“deep, hollow”) (whence Proto-Germanic *dūbaną (“to dive”)).
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”).

#### Verb

duck (third-person singular simple present ducks, present participle ducking, simple past and past participle ducked)
* (intransitive) To quickly lower the head or body, often in order to prevent it from being struck by something.
    Duck! There's a branch falling off the tree!
* (transitive) To quickly lower (the head or body), often in order to prevent it from being struck by something.
** c. 1729, Jonathan Swift, To Dr. Delany on the Libels Written Against Him:As some raw youth in country bred, To arms by thirst of honour led, When at a skirmish first he hears The bullets whistling round his ears, Will duck his head aside
** 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.
* (transitive) To lower (something) into water; to thrust or plunge under liquid and suddenly withdraw.
** 1742, Henry Fielding, “A Scene of Roasting Very Nicely Adapted to the Present Taste and Times”, in The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews, and of His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams. […], volume II, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book III, page 122:Adams after ducking the Squire tvvice or thrice leaped out of the Tub, […]
* (intransitive) To go under the surface of water and immediately reappear; to plunge one's head into water or other liquid.
** 1693, Aulus Persius Flaccus, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus.] The Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, page 22:[…] In Tiber ducking thrice, by break of day […]
* (intransitive) To bow.
** c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], page 90, column 2:The Learned pate / Duckes to the Golden Foole.
* (transitive, figurative) To evade doing something.
** 2018 July 21, Kathryn Hughes, “The strange cult of Emily Brontë and the 'hot mess' of Wuthering Heights”, in The Guardian‎: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, →ISSN:That was the moment, but Senate Republicans ducked it.
* (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.
* (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?

##### Synonyms

* (to lower the head): duck down
* (to lower into the water): dip, dunk
* (to lower in order to prevent it from being struck by something): dip

##### Coordinate terms

* (to lower the head or body to prevent it from being struck): hit the deck

##### Derived terms

* beduck
* duckable
* duck and cover
* duck and dive
* duck down
* ducker
* duck off
* duck out
* unducked

##### Translations
#### Noun

duck (plural ducks)
* (caving) A cave passage containing water with low, or no, airspace.

### Etymology 2

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.
Cognate with Scots duik, duke, dook (“duck”), Danish dukand, dykand (“sea-duck”), Swedish dykfågel (“a diver, diving bird, plungeon”), Dutch duiker (“diver, dipper, plunger”), German Low German Düker (“diver”), German Taucher (“diver, plunger”).
For the meaning development compare with Russian ныро́к (nyrók, “pochard”) connected with ныря́ть (nyrjátʹ, “to dive”).

#### Alternative forms

* ducke (obsolete)

#### Noun

duck (countable and uncountable, plural ducks or duck)
* An aquatic bird of the family Anatidae, having a flat bill and webbed feet.
* Specifically, an adult female duck; contrasted with drake and with duckling.
* (uncountable) The flesh of a duck used as food.
* (cricket) A batsman's score of zero after getting out. (Short for duck's egg.)
* (slang) A playing card with the rank of two.
* A building intentionally constructed in the shape of an everyday object to which it is related.
    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’.
* A marble to be shot at with another marble (the shooter) in children's games.
* (US) A cairn used to mark a trail.
* One of the weights used to hold a spline in place for the purpose of drawing a curve.
* (finance, slang, dated) Synonym of lame duck (“one who cannot fulfil their contracts”)
* (medicine) A long-necked medical urinal for men; a bed urinal.
* (UK, slang, obsolete) A faggot; a meatball made from offal.
* (US, LGBTQ, prison slang) Synonym of bitch (“a man forced or coerced into a homosexual relationship, especially in prison”).
** 1986 April 19, Michael Rathbone, “Tell Someone”, in Gay Community News, page 4:The more passive males are subjected to physical violence. I was subjected to being what they call a punk or a duck, which is someone else's power trip, that's all.

##### Derived terms

* all duck or no dinner
* American black duck
* antiduck
* baby duck syndrome
* Beijing duck
* Black Duck
* black-headed duck
* blue-billed duck
* blue duck
* Bombay duck
* box of fluffy ducks
* Brahminy duck
* break one's duck
* buffel duck
* Burdekin duck
* burrow duck
* can a duck
* can a duck swim
* chance the ducks
* chuckey
* cold duck
* could eat the arse out of a low flying duck
* could eat the crotch out of a low flying duck
* could eat the crutch from a low flying duck
* crocoduck
* crutches for lame ducks
* dabbling duck
* Daffy Duck
* dead duck
* decoy-duck
* demon duck of doom
* diamond duck
* diving duck
* divvy duck
* domestic duck
* Donald Duck
* don't teach your grandmother how to milk ducks
* duck ague
* duck and dive
* duck ant
* duck arsed
* duck-arsed
* duckbill
* duck-bill
* duck-billed
* duckbilled
* duck-billed cat
* duck-billed dinosaur
* duck-billed platypus
* duckboard
* Duckburg
* duckburger
* duck butter
* duck call
* duck clam
* duck curve
* duck decoy
* duck derby
* duck dinner
* duck dive
* duck-drownder
* duck egg
* duck-egg blue
* duckery
* duckess
* duckface
* duck fart
* duckfluff
* duckfoot
* duck-footed
* duckfucker
* duck hawk
* duckhood
* duckie
* duckish
* duckism
* duck itch
* duckkind
* duck-legged
* duckless
* ducklet
* ducklike
* duckling
* duckly
* duckman
* duckmeat
* duckmole
* duck mole
* duckness
* duck on a rock
* duck on drake
* duck on the rock
* duck or no dinner
* duckpin
* duckpond, duck pond
* duck potato
* duckpower
* duck press
* duck race
* duckroll
* ducks and drakes
* ducks and geese
* duck sauce
* ducks guts
* duckshit
* duckshove
* ducksmeat
* ducks on the pond
* duck soup
* duckspeak
* duck-squeezer
* duck stamp
* ducktail
* duck test
* duck tour
* duck typing
* duckwalk
* duck walk
* duckweed
* duckwing
* eider duck
* eiderduck
* ferruginous duck
* Field-lane duck
* fine weather for ducks
* fluffy duck
* freckled duck
* fuck a duck
* fuzzy duck
* German duck
* get one's ducks in a row
* go hunting where the ducks are
* golden duck
* gooducken
* Gressingham duck
* guck
* harlequin duck
* have one's ducks in a row
* hook-a-duck
* hunt where the ducks are
* hunt where the ducks were
* if it looks like a duck
* Indian whistling duck
* Labrador duck
* lame-duck
* lame duck
* Laysan duck
* lesser whistling duck
* like a duck takes to water
* like a duck to water
* like a dying duck in a thunderstorm
* like water off a duck's back
* line up one's ducks
* loggerhead duck
* long-tailed duck
* Lord love a duck
* love a duck
* lovely weather for ducks
* lucky duck
* mandarin duck
* Mexican duck
* milkshake duck
* mottled duck
* mud duck
* Muscovy duck
* musk duck
* nice weather for ducks
* odd duck
* one little duck
* out for a duck
* Pekin duck
* Peking duck
* pink-eared duck
* pintail duck
* platinum duck
* pressed duck
* quack like a duck
* queer duck
* raft duck
* raven's duck
* ring-necked duck
* roan duck
* royal duck
* rubber duck
* rubber-duck
* rubber duck debugging
* ruddy duck
* ruptured duck
* savoury duck
* sea duck
* shelduck
* sitting duck
* spirit duck
* spotted whistling duck
* squawk duck
* St. Cuthbert's duck
* steamer duck
* step on a duck
* stiff-tailed duck
* surf duck
* take to something like a duck to water
* torrent duck
* tree duck
* tufted duck
* turducken
* two little ducks
* unsinkable rubber duck
* velvet duck
* wandering whistling duck
* water off a duck
* whew duck
* whistling duck
* white-headed duck
* wood duck
* Zhangcha duck

##### Descendants

* Sranan Tongo: doksi (from the plural)
** → Dutch: doks

##### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

#### See also

* anatine
* drake
* goose
* quack
* swan
* waterfowl

#### References

* Weisenberg, Michael (2000) The Official Dictionary of Poker. MGI/Mike Caro University. →ISBN
* (faggot, meatball): 1873, John Camden Hotten, The Slang Dictionary

### Etymology 3

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.

#### Alternative forms

* dook, doock (Scotland)

#### Noun

duck (countable and uncountable, plural ducks)
* A tightly-woven cotton fabric used as sailcloth.
** 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.
* (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 US edition, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →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.

##### Derived terms

* duck tape
* sailduck

##### Related terms

* deech

##### Translations
### Etymology 4

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”).

#### Noun

duck (plural ducks)
* A term of endearment; pet; darling.
** 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], page 75, column 2:[…] and hold-faſt is the onely Dogge: My Ducke […]
* (Midlands) Dear, mate (informal way of addressing a friend or stranger).
    Ay up duck, ow'a'tha?

##### Synonyms

* See Thesaurus:friend

##### Derived terms

* ay up me duck
* duckie

#### References

* “duck”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
* Birks, Steve (2005 January 26) “The history of the Potteries dialect”, in BBC‎, retrieved 2014-11-19

### Etymology 5

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

#### Verb

duck (third-person singular simple present ducks, present participle ducking, simple past and past participle ducked)
* (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, 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:She didn't even notice the duck on her vehicles when she first was ducked in spring.

##### Derived terms

* ducking

## German
### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -ʊk

### Verb

duck
* singular imperative of ducken

## Middle English
### Noun

duck
* Alternative form of duk (“duke”)