DUCK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does duck mean? 

• DUCK (noun)
  The noun DUCK has 4 senses:

1. small wild or domesticated web-footed broad-billed swimming bird usually having a depressed body and short legs

2. (cricket) a score of nothing by a batsman

3. flesh of a duck (domestic or wild)

4. a heavy cotton fabric of plain weave; used for clothing and tents

  Familiarity information: DUCK used as a noun is uncommon.

• DUCK (verb)
  The verb DUCK has 4 senses:

1. to move (the head or body) quickly downwards or away

2. submerge or plunge suddenly

3. dip into a liquid

4. avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing (duties, questions, or issues)

  Familiarity information: DUCK used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DUCK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Small wild or domesticated web-footed broad-billed swimming bird usually having a depressed body and short legs

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("duck" is a kind of...):

anseriform bird (chiefly web-footed swimming birds)

Meronyms (parts of "duck"):

duck down (down of the duck)

duck (flesh of a duck (domestic or wild))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "duck"):

drake (adult male of a wild or domestic duck)

sea duck (any of various large diving ducks found along the seacoast: eider; scoter; merganser)

Cairina moschata; muscovy duck; musk duck (large crested wild duck of Central America and South America; widely domesticated)

Aix galericulata; mandarin duck (showy crested Asiatic duck; often domesticated)

Aix sponsa; summer duck; wood duck; wood widgeon (showy North American duck that nests in hollow trees)

wild duck (an undomesticated duck (especially a mallard))

bluebill; broadbill; scaup; scaup duck (diving ducks of North America having a bluish-grey bill)

Aythya americana; redhead (North American diving duck with a grey-and-black body and reddish-brown head)

Aythya ferina; pochard (heavy-bodied Old World diving duck having a grey-and-black body and reddish head)

Aythya valisineria; canvasback; canvasback duck (North American wild duck valued for sport and food)

Bucephela clangula; goldeneye; whistler (large-headed swift-flying diving duck of Arctic regions)

Bucephela albeola; bufflehead; butterball; dipper (small North American diving duck; males have bushy head plumage)

Oxyura jamaicensis; ruddy duck (reddish-brown stiff-tailed duck of North America and northern South America)

sheldrake (Old World gooselike duck slightly larger than a mallard with variegated mostly black-and-white plumage and a red bill)

Anas acuta; pin-tailed duck; pintail (long-necked river duck of the Old and New Worlds having elongated central tail feathers)

Anas clypeata; broadbill; shoveler; shoveller (freshwater duck of the northern hemisphere having a broad flat bill)

Anas penelope; widgeon; wigeon (freshwater duck of Eurasia and northern Africa related to mallards and teals)

teal (any of various small short-necked dabbling river ducks of Europe and America)

Anas rubripes; black duck (a dusky duck of northeastern United States and Canada)

Anas platyrhynchos; mallard (wild dabbling duck from which domestic ducks are descended; widely distributed)

dabbler; dabbling duck (any of numerous shallow-water ducks that feed by upending and dabbling)

diving duck (any of various ducks of especially bays and estuaries that dive for their food)

duckling (young duck)

quack-quack (child's word for a duck)

Holonyms ("duck" is a member of...):

Anatidae; family Anatidae (swimming birds having heavy short-legged bodies and bills with a horny tip: swans; geese; ducks)

Derivation:

duckling (young duck)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(cricket) a score of nothing by a batsman

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

duck; duck's egg

Hypernyms ("duck" is a kind of...):

score (a number that expresses the accomplishment of a team or an individual in a game or contest)

Domain category:

cricket (a game played with a ball and bat by two teams of 11 players; teams take turns trying to score runs)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Flesh of a duck (domestic or wild)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("duck" is a kind of...):

poultry (flesh of chickens or turkeys or ducks or geese raised for food)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "duck"):

duckling (flesh of a young domestic duck)

Holonyms ("duck" is a part of...):

duck (small wild or domesticated web-footed broad-billed swimming bird usually having a depressed body and short legs)

Derivation:

duckling (flesh of a young domestic duck)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A heavy cotton fabric of plain weave; used for clothing and tents

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("duck" is a kind of...):

cloth; fabric; material; textile (artifact made by weaving or felting or knitting or crocheting natural or synthetic fibers)

• DUCK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they duck    ... he / she / it ducks   
Past simple: ducked   
Past participle: ducked   
-ing form: ducking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

To move (the head or body) quickly downwards or away

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Context example:

Before he could duck, another stone struck him

Hypernyms (to "duck" is one way to...):

move (move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Submerge or plunge suddenly

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "duck" is one way to...):

dive; plunge; plunk (drop steeply)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something PP
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

The airplane is sure to duck

Derivation:

ducking (the act of wetting something by submerging it)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Dip into a liquid

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

dip; douse; duck

Context example:

He dipped into the pool

Hypernyms (to "duck" is one way to...):

dip; douse; dunk; plunge; souse (immerse briefly into a liquid so as to wet, coat, or saturate)

Sentence frames:

Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

ducking (the act of wetting something by submerging it)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing (duties, questions, or issues)

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

circumvent; dodge; duck; elude; evade; fudge; hedge; parry; put off; sidestep; skirt

Context example:

he evaded the questions skillfully

Hypernyms (to "duck" is one way to...):

avoid (stay clear from; keep away from; keep out of the way of someone or something)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "duck"):

beg (dodge, avoid answering, or take for granted)

quibble (evade the truth of a point or question by raising irrelevant objections)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

And there is also no ferry, answered Gretel, but a white duck is swimming there: if I ask her, she will help us over.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

But you may suppose I paid no heed; jumping, ducking, and breaking through, I ran straight before my nose till I could run no longer.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I turned the stable lantern on to ’im, but ’e ducked ’is face, an’ I could only swear to ’is red ’ead.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Bird flu viruses infect birds, including chickens, other poultry, and wild birds such as ducks.

(Bird Flu, NIH)

EXAMPLE(S): flock of ducks, litter of mice, herd of cows

(Biologic Entity Group, NCI Thesaurus/BRIDG)

Indeed, some people have already likened the shape to a duck, with a distinct body and head.

(Rosetta Comet May Be a Contact Binary, NASA)

Once Mars ducks into Scorpio on November 18, until January 3, you may be working on a project that you will not reveal to the world until the New Year.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

I take to it kindly, like a duck to water.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He will have a very pretty income to make ducks and drakes with, and earned without much trouble.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

The second course was two ducks trussed up in the form of fiddles; sausages and puddings resembling flutes and hautboys, and a breast of veal in the shape of a harp.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)