duck and draken.
1.
a. A pastime consisting in throwing a flat stone or the like over the surface of water so as to cause it to rebound or skip as many times as possible before sinking. Chiefly in to make a duck and drake, to play (at) duck and drake. (Often in plural.)
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > children's game > other children's games > [noun] > stone-throwing games
duck and drake1585
dust-point1611
duck1821
duck's-off1888
knicker1900
1585 J. Higgins tr. Junius Nomenclator A kind of sport or play with an oister shell or stone throwne into the water, and making circles yer it sinke, etc. It is called a ducke and a drake, and a halfe-penie cake.
c1626 Dick of Devonshire (1955) 174 Ye poorest ship Boy might on ye Thames make duckes & drakes wth pieces of Eight, fetchd out of Spayne.
1730 J. Swift Vindic. Ld. C—— 21 Scipio and Lelius..often play'd at Duck and Drake with smooth Stones on a River.
1829 Nat. Philos. (Libr. Useful Knowl.) I. Hydrostatics i. 2 The common play of making ducks and drakes, that is, throwing a flat stone in a direction nearly horizontal against a surface of water, and thus making it rebound, proves the water to be elastic.
1842 Peter Parley's Ann. 15 A shot made a duck-and-drake in the water.
b. attributive, as duck-and-drake fashion, duck-and-drake sort.
Π
1858 A. W. Drayson Sporting Scenes S. Afr. 304 Sometimes with a duck and drake sort of progression they [fish] skipped along over the top of the pool.
1893 Boy's Own Paper Jan. 183/2 A cannon ball..came Skipping at a long range over the water ‘duck and drake’ fashion.
2.
a. figurative. In phrases: to make ducks and drakes of or with, to play (at) duck and drake with: to throw away idly or carelessly; to play idly with; to handle or use recklessly; to squander.
ΘΠ
the mind > possession > relinquishing > squandering or prodigality > squander [verb (transitive)]
forspendc893
scatter1154
dispend1303
waste1340
misspendc1390
miswastec1400
consumec1425
waste1474
profund1527
lasha1535
prodige1538
lavish1542
to play away1562
riot1566
embezzle1578
dilapidate1590
squander1593
confound1598
to make ducks and drakes of or withc1600
prodigalize1611
profuse1611
squander1611
paddle1616
bezzle1617
to run out of ——1622
to piss away1628
prodigal1628
decoct1629
to bangle (away)1632
debauch1632
deboise1632
to fribble away1633
to fool out1635
to run outa1640
to fiddle away1667
slattera1681
dissipate1682
to play off1693
duck-and-drake1700
liquidate1702
sparkle away1703
waster1821
befool1861
to frivol away1866
to play (at) duck and drake with1872
to fling away1873
mislive1887
slather1904
mucker1928
profligate1938
peter1956
spaff2002
c1600 Timon (1980) v. v. 83 I will make duckes & drakes with this my golde..Before your fingers touch a piece thereof.
a1774 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued (1777) III. ii. 34 A miser has it in his power to make ducks and drakes of his guineas.
1810 Duke of Wellington Dispatches (1837) VII. 32 His Majesty's Government never intended to give over the British army to the Governors of this Kingdom to make ducks and drakes with.
1872 Ld. Tennyson Last Tournament in Gareth & Lynette 111 Ye..grew So witty that ye play'd at ducks and drakes With Arthur's vows.
1883 R. L. Stevenson Treasure Island i. vi. 52 Finding the..money to..play duck and drake with ever after.
b. Idle play, reckless squandering.
ΘΠ
the mind > possession > relinquishing > squandering or prodigality > [noun]
overflowingnessOE
wastinga1300
prodigality1340
misdispendingc1390
misspendingc1390
fool-largessec1405
wantonness1448
fool-largec1450
dilapidationc1460
lavish1483
consuminga1538
profusion1545
sumptuosity1550
wastefulness1551
lashing1556
lavishing1574
profuseness1584
lavishness1590
misspense1591
wastening1604
outlashing1611
duck and drake1614
largesse1614
lavishment1630
squandering1632
prodigence1634
dissipation1639
wastry1645
profusiveness1655
high living1656
nepotation1656
extravagancy1666
extravagance1727
profligacy1792
squander1806
profligateness1817
wastrife1818
spendthriftism1862
wasterfulness1884
high-rolling1890
prodigalism1896
spendthriftiness1950
squanderbugging1966
1614 J. Cooke Greene's Tu Quoque in W. C. Hazlitt Dodsley's Sel. Coll. Old Eng. Plays (1875) XI. 212 This royal Cæsar doth regard no cash; Has thrown away as much in ducks and drakes As would have bought some 50,000 capons.
a1678 A. Marvell Char. Holland in Misc. Poems (1681) 112 Nature..Would throw their Land away at Duck and Drake.
Derivatives
duck-and-drake v. (transitive) to make ‘ducks and drakes’ of; to throw away idly.
ΘΠ
the mind > possession > relinquishing > squandering or prodigality > squander [verb (transitive)]
forspendc893
scatter1154
dispend1303
waste1340
misspendc1390
miswastec1400
consumec1425
waste1474
profund1527
lasha1535
prodige1538
lavish1542
to play away1562
riot1566
embezzle1578
dilapidate1590
squander1593
confound1598
to make ducks and drakes of or withc1600
prodigalize1611
profuse1611
squander1611
paddle1616
bezzle1617
to run out of ——1622
to piss away1628
prodigal1628
decoct1629
to bangle (away)1632
debauch1632
deboise1632
to fribble away1633
to fool out1635
to run outa1640
to fiddle away1667
slattera1681
dissipate1682
to play off1693
duck-and-drake1700
liquidate1702
sparkle away1703
waster1821
befool1861
to frivol away1866
to play (at) duck and drake with1872
to fling away1873
mislive1887
slather1904
mucker1928
profligate1938
peter1956
spaff2002
1700–32 Gentleman Instructed 116 Is it then no harm..like children, [to] duck and drake away a treasure able to buy Paradise?
1704 W. Darrell Gentleman Instructed ii. 33 I would neither fawn on Money for Money's Sake; nor duck and drake it away for a Frolick.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1897; most recently modified version published online September 2019).
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