break one's duck

English

Etymology

From cricket, where duck means a score of zero.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Verb

break one's duck (third-person singular simple present breaks one's duck, present participle breaking one's duck, simple past broke one's duck, past participle broken one's duck)

1. (cricket) To score one's first run in an innings.
2. (idiomatic, British, by extension) To do something for the first time.
   • 2011 January 5, Saj Chowdhury, “Newcastle 0 - 0 West Ham”, in BBC‎^[1]:

     Best had come on as a substitute in the 1-0 win at Wigan last weekend and wasted a goalscoring opportunity after stumbling as he was about to shoot, so many of the fans in black and white could have been forgiven for thinking that perhaps the burly forward was destined not to break his duck.