duck
/dʌk/ verb, noun, proper noun
Forms ducks ducking ducked ducke dook doock
- verb (transitive) To quickly lower (the head or body), often in order to prevent it from being struck by something.
- verb (transitive) To lower (something) into water; to thrust or plunge under liquid and suddenly withdraw.
- verb (intransitive) To go under the surface of water and immediately reappear; to plunge one's head into water or other liquid.
- verb (intransitive) To bow.
- verb (transitive, figurative) To evade doing something, especially something considered a responsibility.
- verb (transitive) To lower the volume of (a sound) so that other sounds in the mix can be heard more clearly.
- verb (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?”
- noun (caving) A cave passage containing water with low, or no, airspace.
- noun Any of certain aquatic birds of the family Anatidae, having a flat bill and webbed feet, distinguished from swans and geese by generally being smaller and shorter-necked.
- noun Specifically, an adult female duck; contrasted with drake and with duckling.
- noun (uncountable) The flesh of a duck used as food.
- noun (cricket) A batsman's score of zero after getting out. (Short for duck's egg.)
- noun (slang) A playing card with the rank of two.
- noun A marble to be shot at with another marble (the shooter) in children's games.
- noun (US) A cairn used to mark a trail.
- noun One of the weights used to hold a spline in place for the purpose of drawing a curve.
- noun A tightly-woven cotton or linen fabric, often used as sailcloth.
- noun (in the plural) Trousers made of such material.
- noun A term of endearment; pet; darling.
- noun An affectionate (sometimes slightly patronising or jocular) term for a person, often (in collocations old duck and dear old duck) an elderly woman.
Synonyms
dip dunk duck down duckess duckflesh duckmeat duck building lame duck bitch duckcloth sailduck friend duck's egg douse hedge fudge evade put off circumvent parry elude skirt dodge sidestep
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”).
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”).
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 (“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”)).
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.
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”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A pet; a darling. Shak.
- noun A linen (or sometimes cotton) fabric, finer and lighter than canvas, --used for the lighter sails of vessels, the sacking of beds, and sometimes for men's clothing.
- noun pl.
- verb To thrust or plunge under water or other liquid and suddenly withdraw.
Etymology [Cf. Dan. dukke, Sw. docka, OHG. doccha, G. docke. Cf. Doxy.]
Etymology [D. doek cloth, canvas, or Icel. d cloth; akin to OHG. tuoh, G. tuch, Sw. duk, Dan. dug.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “duck”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details