duckess

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English

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Etymology

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From duck +‎ -ess.

Noun

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duckess (plural duckesses)

  1. (rare) A female duck.
    Synonym: duck
    Coordinate term: drake
    • 1920, Lawton Mackall, “Beyond the Paling”, in Scrambled Eggs, Stewart & Kidd Company, page 37:
      But the thrust that got Eustace in the pin feathers was: “I know why you’re such a model drake,—it’s because your wife is the only duckess in the barnyard.” “Not at all!” he replied. “The principles for which I stand are absolute. They would be the same if there were a hundred duckesses besides Gertrude!”
    • 1938 September 17, “From the Editor’s Easy Chair”, in Welford Beaton, editor, Hollywood Spectator, thirteenth year, volume 13, number 17, Los Angeles, Calif., section “Mental Meanderings”, page six, column 2:
      And here come Sophie and her four offsprings which we have been unable thus far to segregate into ducks and duckesses. Manchester, the biggest of the lot, makes a specialty of pecking at my shoelaces.
    • 1953, The Fortnightly Review of the Chicago Dental Society, page 18, column 2:
      Harold does not like to shoot little ducks and duckesses himself, but he got some swell camera shots of some of his friends in action.
    • 2012, Robert L. Payne, A Side Order of Truth, Xlibris, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 481:
      Three duckesses had fluffy, little broods parading along behind, ready to claim their waterfront real estate as soon as the ice stopped being ice.

Translations

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