duck
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: dŭk
ipa: /dʌk/
ipa: /dʊk/
rhymes: -ʌk
Forms: form: ducks
form: duck
form: ducke
Etymology: 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”)).
Senses: examples: text: 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.
ref: 2023 May 18, David McElhenney, “13 of Japan’s best castles”, in CNN:
text: The payment processor’s layoffs and the curious incident of the duck were first reported by Business Insider.
ref: 2025 January 23, John Towfighi, “Stripe accidentally sends image of cartoon duck to laid-off employees”, in CNN:
glosses: An aquatic bird of the family Anatidae, having a flat bill and webbed feet.
glosses: Specifically, an adult female duck; contrasted with drake and with duckling.
synonyms: duckflesh
duckmeat
glosses: The flesh of a duck used as food.
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A batsman's score of zero after getting out. (Short for duck's egg.)
glosses: A playing card with the rank of two.
examples: text: A luncheonette in the shape of a coffee cup is particularly conspicuous, as is intended of an architectural duck or folly.
text: The Big Duck has influenced the world of architecture; any building that is shaped like its product is called a ‘duck’.
ref: 2007 February 21, Cynthia Blair, “It Happened on Long Island: 1988—Suffolk County Adopts the Big Duck”, in Newsday:
glosses: A building intentionally constructed in the shape of an everyday object to which it is related.
glosses: A marble to be shot at with another marble (the shooter) in children's games.
glosses: A cairn used to mark a trail.
glosses: One of the weights used to hold a spline in place for the purpose of drawing a curve.
topics: business
finance
glosses: Synonym of lame duck (“one who cannot fulfil their contracts”).
synonyms: word: lame duck
extra: one who cannot fulfil their contracts
topics: medicine
sciences
glosses: A long-necked medical urinal for men; a bed urinal.
glosses: A faggot; a meatball made from offal.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1986 April 19, Michael Rathbone, “Tell Someone”, in Gay Community News, page 4:
glosses: Synonym of bitch (“a man forced or coerced into a homosexual relationship, especially in prison”).
synonyms: word: bitch
extra: a man forced or coerced into a homosexual relationship, especially in prison
Derived terms: all duck or no dinner
American black duck
antiduck
aromatic duck
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
Carolina duck
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
duckbilled
duck-billed
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
duck fit
duckfluff
duckfoot
duck-footed
duck-frost
duck's frost
duckfucker
duck hawk
duckhood
duckie
duckish
duckism
duck itch
duckkind
duck-legged
duckless
ducklet
ducklike
duckling
duckly
duckman
duckmeat
duck mole
duckmole
duckness
duck on a rock
duck on drake
duck on the rock
duck orchid
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
duck-shover
ducksmeat
ducks on the pond
duck soup
duckspeak
duck-squeezer
duck stamp
ducktail
duck test
duck tour
duck typing
duck walk
duckwalk
duckweed
duckwing
eiderduck
eider duck
falcated duck
ferruginous duck
Field-lane duck
fine weather for ducks
fish duck
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
marbled 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
put one's ducks in a row
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
western duck sickness
whew duck
whistling duck
white-headed duck
wood duck
Zhangcha duck
Related terms: anatine
drake
goose
quack
swan
waterfowl