quack1
/kwak
/- But even from the vague hints he throws out, I think we may rest assured it will not be the last quack of a lame duck.
- This is an interesting link for anyone who was wondering about those duck quacks.
- I'm sorry to say that it's not true about the quack of a duck.
- Yet, in case after case, the chicken always ended up dead, while the duck went happily quacking down the river.
- We strolled up a steep street, where wild ducks quacked for food outside a shop, and into a quiet garden.
- Down near the pond, the ducks were quacking at an old couple that was throwing pieces of stale bread at them.
- Ever since Ride the Ducks came to town, I've watched those vessels drive by, its frenzied tourists quacking away.
- Some of these remedies have been closer to quack concoctions.
Origin
Mid 16th century (as a verb): imitative.
‘If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it just may be a duck.’ was the comment made by the US union leader Walter Reuther about the alleged communists investigated by Senator Joseph McCarthy in the early 1950s. The quack of a duck, recorded from the mid 16th century, is just an imitation of the bird's characteristic sound. The kind of quack who dishonestly claims to have medical skills was originally a quacksalver, a 17th-century word from Dutch quacken ‘to talk foolishly’ and salf the same word as ‘salve’ (Old English) from a Germanic base meaning ‘clarified butter’.
Rhymes
quack2
/kwak/- As with most quack cure claims about ‘toxins’, the actual toxins were not named.
- An alternative medicine quack reckoned he could cure Faulkner of his twitching with a six-month course of treatment.
- But why wouldn't they believe the claims of the detox quacks?
Synonyms
- In India, this could range from private practitioners, to hospitals, nursing homes, polyclinics, alternative medical practitioners, quacks and pharmacists.
Synonyms
Derivatives
quackish
- Barrett goes on to describe the history of naturopathy and to list some of the quackish practices that have been included in naturopathy.
- Obviously, Paul, anyone stupid enough to take your quackish advice deserves their outcomes.
Origin
Mid 17th century: abbreviation of earlier quacksalver, from Dutch, probably from obsolete quacken 'prattle' + salf, zalf (see salve1).