| 释义 |
duck's egg
Also duck egg.
a. The egg of a duck; hence,
b. in Cricket, the zero or ‘0’ placed against a batsman's name in the scoring sheet when he fails to score; no runs; hence, generally in school-boy slang, ‘nought’; to break one's duck's egg: see break v. 7 d.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. lxxxiv. (1495) 914 Duckys egges ben more thanne hennes egges. 1601[see duckling]. 1863Reade Very Hard Cash vii, Now you and I, at Lord's the other day..achieved..the British duck's-egg. 1868[see duck n.1 7]. 1881Standard 8 July 6/1 Their captain was out for the dreaded ‘duck's egg’.
c. The colour of the egg of a duck; used attrib. Freq. duck-egg blue, duck's egg blue.
1876T. Hardy Ethelberta (1890) 115 A general flat tint of duck's-egg green. 1893Collingwood Life Ruskin II. 190 The walls, painted ‘duck egg’, are hung with old pictures. 1899Daily News 13 Feb. 8/5 One of the prettiest of the new colours is a soft, duck's-egg blue. 1934Times 18 July 17/6 This year pastel colours are much used, particularly a rather dark duck-egg blue. a1954F. B. Young Wistanslow (1956) iv. 87 The cool duck-egg blues and greens made fashionable by the Adam brothers. 1967Harper's Bazaar Mar. 8 (Advt.), Sweater{ddd}In maple..duck egg blue.
d. duck('s)-egg china, duck's egg porcelain (see quots.).
1897W. Turner Ceramics of Swansea 72 Some of this ware has a greenish hue when held up to a strong light. Hence locally, it is called the ‘duck's egg.’ Ibid. 343/2 ‘Duck's Egg’ China at Swansea. 1904Burlington Mag. July 397/1 Old Swansea, or what is locally called the ‘duck-egg’ porcelain, has been collected, especially in South Wales, for many years. 1957Mankowitz & Haggar Encycl. Eng. Pott. & Porc. 78/2 Duck Egg Porcelain, a much sought after variety of Swansea soft-paste porcelain showing a greenish translucency made about 1816–17. |