I. duck 1 S3 /dʌk/ BrE AmE noun
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: duce ]
1 .
[countable] a very common water bird with short legs and a wide beak, used for its meat, eggs, and soft feathers
2 . [countable] a female duck ⇨ drake
3 . [uncountable] the meat of a duck used as food:
roast duck with orange sauce
4 . take to something like a duck to water to learn how to do something very easily:
She took to dancing like a duck to water.
5 . ( also ducks ) British English spoken used to speak to someone, especially a woman, in a friendly way:
What can I get you, ducks?
6 . [countable] a ↑ score of zero by a ↑ batsman in a game of ↑ cricket
⇨ ↑ dead duck , ↑ lame duck , ⇨ like water off a duck’s back at ↑ water 1 (8), ⇨ ↑ ducks and drakes , ↑ sitting duck
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ a duck quacks (=makes the sound ducks make)
The ducks on the river started quacking.
▪ a duck waddles (=walks moving its body from side to side)
Ducks were waddling across the grass.
▪ a duck paddles (=swims by moving its feet under the water)
Ducks and swans paddled towards us.
▪ a duck dives (=puts its head down under the water)
A single wild duck was swimming and diving.
▪ a duck bobs (=moves up and down on the water)
They watched the ducks bobbing up and down on the waves.
■ duck + NOUN
▪ a duck pond (=a small area of water where there are ducks)
The park has a duck pond which the children like.
II. duck 2 BrE AmE verb
1 . ( also duck down ) [intransitive and transitive] to lower your head or body very quickly, especially to avoid being seen or hit:
If she hadn’t ducked, the ball would have hit her.
duck behind/under etc
Jamie saw his father coming and ducked quickly behind the wall.
Tim ducked down to comb his hair in the mirror.
She ducked her head to look more closely at the inscription.
2 . [intransitive always + adverb/preposition] to move somewhere very quickly, especially to avoid being seen or to get away from someone
duck into
The two men ducked into a block of flats and disappeared.
duck out of
She ducked out of the door before he could stop her.
duck back
‘Wait a minute’, he called, ducking back inside.
3 . [transitive] informal to avoid something, especially a difficult or unpleasant duty SYN dodge :
The ruling body wanted to duck the issue of whether players had been cheating.
Glazer ducked a question about his involvement in the bank scandal.
4 . [transitive] to push someone under water for a short time as a joke
duck somebody under something
Tom grabbed him from behind to duck him under the surface.
duck out of something phrasal verb
to avoid doing something that you have to do or have promised to do:
I always ducked out of history lessons at school.