duck
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: dŭk
ipa: /dʌk/
ipa: /dʊk/
rhymes: -ʌk
Forms: form: ducks
form: ducking
form: ducked
form: ducked
Etymology: 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”).
Senses: examples: text: 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
ref: c. 1729, Jonathan Swift, To Dr. Delany on the Libels Written Against Him:
text: 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.
ref: 1989, Grant Naylor, Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers:
glosses: To quickly lower (the head or body), often in order to prevent it from being struck by something.
examples: text: Adams after ducking the Squire tvvice or thrice leaped out of the Tub, […]
ref: 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:
glosses: To lower (something) into water; to thrust or plunge under liquid and suddenly withdraw.
examples: text: […]In Tiber ducking thrice, by break of day[…]
ref: 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:
glosses: To go under the surface of water and immediately reappear; to plunge one's head into water or other liquid.
examples: text: The Learned pate / Duckes to the Golden Foole.
ref: c. 1605–1608 (date written), 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:
glosses: To bow.
examples: text: Victorian women choosing to duck the demands of domestic life to spend their time doing something they enjoyed is hardly a novel idea.
ref: 2018 July 21, Kathryn Hughes, “The strange cult of Emily Brontë and the 'hot mess' of Wuthering Heights”, in The Guardian:
text: 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.
ref: 2023 July 12, Mel Holley, “Network News: RDG presses ahead with ticket office closure plan”, in RAIL, number 987, page 7:
text: That was the moment, but Senate Republicans ducked it.
ref: 2024 January 19, Jonathan Freedland, “There is still a way to stop Donald Trump – but time is running out”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
glosses: To evade doing something, especially something considered a responsibility.
examples: text: The music is ducked under the voice.
ref: 2007, Alexander U. Case, Sound FX: unlocking the creative potential of recording studio effects, page 183:
glosses: To lower the volume of (a sound) so that other sounds in the mix can be heard more clearly.
examples: text: I'm just going to duck into the loo for a minute; can you hold my bag?
glosses: To enter a place for a short moment.
Synonyms: sense: to lower the head
word: duck down
sense: to lower into the water
word: dip
sense: to lower into the water
word: dunk
sense: to lower in order to prevent it from being struck by something
word: dip
Coordinate terms: sense: to lower the head or body to prevent it from being struck
word: hit the deck
Derived terms: beduck
duckable
duck and cover
duck and dive
duck down
ducker
duck off
duck out
duckroll
unducked