duck
Noun
- small wild or domesticated web-footed broad-billed swimming bird usually having a depressed body and short legs
- (cricket) a score of nothing by a batsman
- flesh of a duck (domestic or wild)
- a heavy cotton fabric of plain weave; used for clothing and tents
- A cave passage containing water with low, or no, airspace.
- An aquatic bird of the family Anatidae, having a flat bill and webbed feet.
- Specifically, an adult female duck; contrasted with drake and with duckling.
- The flesh of a duck used as food.
- A batsman's score of zero after getting out. (Short for duck's egg.)
- A playing card with the rank of two.
- A building intentionally constructed in the shape of an everyday object to which it is related.
- A marble to be shot at with another marble (the shooter) in children's games.
- 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.
- Synonym of lame duck (“one who cannot fulfil their contracts”).
- A long-necked medical urinal for men; a bed urinal.
- A faggot; a meatball made from offal.
- Synonym of bitch (“a man forced or coerced into a homosexual relationship, especially in prison”).
- A tightly-woven cotton fabric used as sailcloth.
- Trousers made of such material.
- A term of endearment; pet; darling.
- Dear, mate (informal way of addressing a friend or stranger).
Verb
Verb Forms: ducked, ducking, ducks
- To lower one's head or body quickly; to evade something.
- to move (the head or body) quickly downwards or away
- "Before he could duck, another stone struck him"
- submerge or plunge suddenly
- dip into a liquid
- avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing (duties, questions, or issues)
- To quickly lower the head or body, often in order to prevent it from being struck by something.
- To quickly lower (the head or body), often in order to prevent it from being struck by something.
- To lower (something) into water; to thrust or plunge under liquid and suddenly withdraw.
- To go under the surface of water and immediately reappear; to plunge one's head into water or other liquid.
- To bow.
- To evade doing something, especially something considered a responsibility.
- To lower the volume of (a sound) so that other sounds in the mix can be heard more clearly.
- To enter a place for a short moment.
- To surreptitiously leave a rubber duck on someone's parked Jeep as an act of kindness (see Jeep ducking).
Examples
- A luncheonette in the shape of a coffee cup is particularly conspicuous, as is intended of an architectural duck or folly.
- Ay up duck, ow'a'tha?
- Duck! There's a branch falling off the tree!
- He had to DUCK a challenging play by finding a simpler, yet still scoring, word in Scrabble.
- I'm just going to duck into the loo for a minute; can you hold my bag?
Origin / 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”).
Synonyms
circumvent, dip, dodge, douse, duck's egg, elude, evade, fudge, hedge, parry, put off, sidestep, skirt, bitch, duck down, duckflesh, duckmeat, dunk, friend, lame duck
Scrabble Score: 11
duck: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordduck: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
duck: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary