Sekirov Dictionary

duck

/dʌk/

noun 19
verb 8
forms 3
phrases 9

noun19

•
a bird of rivers and lakes that has a flat bill, wide feet for swimming and a short neck
- The payment processor’s layoffs and the curious incident of the duck were first reported by Business Insider. — 2025
Specifically, an adult female duck; contrasted with drake and with duckling.
The flesh of a duck used as food.
•
A term of endearment; pet; darling.
- […]and hold-fast is the onely Dogge: My Ducke[…] — 1599
•
An affectionate (sometimes slightly patronising or jocular) term for a person, often (in collocations old duck and dear old duck) an elderly woman.
- Even if this dear old duck didn’t take off before the real fun began, she would be going to beddy-byes any time from now. — 1960
•
Dear, mate (informal way of addressing a friend or stranger).
- Ay up duck, ow'a'tha?
A batsman's score of zero after getting out. (Short for duck's egg.)
•
A tightly-woven cotton or linen fabric, often used as sailcloth.
- He was dressed in a Jaeger vest—a pair of blue duck trousers, fastened round the waist with a plaited leather belt. — 1912
•
[in the plural] Trousers made of such material.
- 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. — 1918
•
Ellipsis of architectural duck; 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.
•
(US, slang) Synonym of bitch (“a man forced or coerced into a homosexual relationship, especially in prison”).
- 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. — 1986
(slang, old-fashioned) Synonym of lame duck (“one who cannot fulfil their contracts”).
A marble to be shot at with another marble (the shooter) in children's games.
A long-necked medical urinal for men; a bed urinal.
(slang) A playing card with the rank of two.
A cave passage containing water with low, or no, airspace.
(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.
(slang, no longer used) A faggot; a meatball made from offal.

verb8

•
To quickly lower (the head or body), often in order to prevent it from being struck by something.
- 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 — 1729
•
(figurative) To evade doing something, especially something considered a responsibility.
- Victorian women choosing to duck the demands of domestic life to spend their time doing something they enjoyed is hardly a novel idea. — 2018
•
(informal) 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 lower (something) into water; to thrust or plunge under liquid and suddenly withdraw.
- Adams after ducking the Squire tvvice or thrice leaped out of the Tub, […] — 1742
•
To go under the surface of water and immediately reappear; to plunge one's head into water or other liquid.
- […]In Tiber ducking thrice, by break of day[…] — 1693
•
To bow.
- The Learned pate / Duckes to the Golden Foole. — 1605
•
To lower the volume of (a sound) so that other sounds in the mix can be heard more clearly.
- The music is ducked under the voice. — 2007
•
To surreptitiously leave a rubber duck on someone's parked Jeep as an act of kindness (see Jeep ducking).
- 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. — 2020

forms

ducked · ducking · ducks

Phrases with duck

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