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duck

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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See also: Duck

English

Pronunciation

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”).

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”).

Verb

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

  1. (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!
  2. (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.
  3. (transitive) To lower (something) into water; to thrust or plunge under liquid and suddenly withdraw.
  4. (intransitive) To go under the surface of water and immediately reappear; to plunge one's head into water or other liquid.
  5. (intransitive) To bow.
  6. (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:
      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.
  7. (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.
  8. (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
Translations
to quickly lower the head or body (intransitive)

Noun

duck (plural ducks)

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

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.

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”)).

Alternative forms

Noun

duck (countable and uncountable, plural ducks or duck)

  1. An aquatic bird of the family Anatidae, having a flat bill and webbed feet.
    • 2023 May 18, David McElhenney, “13 of Japan’s best castles”, in CNN‎:
      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:
      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.
  4. (uncountable) The flesh of a duck used as food.
    Synonyms: duckflesh, duckmeat
  5. (cricket) A batsman's score of zero after getting out. (Short for duck's egg.)
  6. (slang) A playing card with the rank of two.
  7. 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’.
  8. A marble to be shot at with another marble (the shooter) in children's games.
  9. (US) A cairn used to mark a trail.
  10. One of the weights used to hold a spline in place for the purpose of drawing a curve.
  11. (finance, slang, dated) Synonym of lame duck (“one who cannot fulfil their contracts”).
  12. (medicine) A long-necked medical urinal for men; a bed urinal.
  13. (UK, slang, obsolete) A faggot; a meatball made from offal.
  14. (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
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.
Translations to be checked

See also

References

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

Noun

duck (countable and uncountable, plural ducks)

  2. 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.
  3. (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
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)

  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?
Synonyms
Derived terms

References

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

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)

  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, 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
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German

Pronunciation

Verb

duck

  1. singular imperative of ducken

Middle English

Noun

duck

  1. alternative form of duk (“duke”)

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