duck

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[edit] English

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 Duck on Wikipedia

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A duck in a spring with its wings outstretched.

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Etymology 1

Old English duce

[edit] Noun

duck (plural ducks)

  1. An aquatic bird of the family Anatidae, having a flat bill and webbed feet.
  2. Specifically, an adult female duck; contrasted with drake and with duckling.
  3. The flesh of a duck used as food.
  4. (cricket) A batsman's score of zero after getting out. (short for duck's egg, since the digit "0" is round like an egg.)
  5. A term of endearment
  6. (UK, chiefly East of the Pennines) Dear, Mate (informal way of addressing a friend or stranger).
    Ay up duck, ow'a'tha?
  7. (slang) A playing card with the rank of two.
  8. A partly-flooded cave passage with limited air space.
  9. 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, Cynthia Blair, "It Happened on Long Island: 1988—Suffolk County Adopts the Big Duck," Newsday, 21 Feb.:
      The Big Duck has influenced the world of architecture; any building that is shaped like its product is called a ‘duck’.
[edit] Hyponyms
[edit] Derived terms
Terms derived from duck (noun)
[edit] Translations
aquatic bird of the family Anatidae
female duck
flesh of a duck used as food
a batsman's score of zero after getting out
slang: playing card two
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

[edit] References

[edit] Etymology 2

From Dutch doek, doeck (“linen cloth”)

[edit] Noun

duck (uncountable)

  1. A tightly-woven cotton fabric used as sailcloth.
    • 1912, Katherine Mansfield, "The Woman At The Store", from 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.
[edit] Translations
cotton fabric

[edit] See also

[edit] Etymology 3

Middle English douken; akin to Old High German tūhhan (“to dive”), Old English dūce (“duck”)

[edit] Verb

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

  1. (intransitive) To lower the head or body in order to prevent it from being struck by something.
  2. (transitive) To lower (something) into water.
  3. (transitive) To lower (the head) in order to prevent it from being struck by something.
  4. (transitive) To try to evade doing something.
  5. (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.
[edit] 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
[edit] Derived terms
[edit] Translations
to lower the head or body
to lower into the water
to lower in order to prevent it from being struck by something
to try to evade doing something
Retrieved from "http://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=duck&oldid=16138890"
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