ducknoun
uk/dʌk/us/dʌk/duck noun (BIRD)
A2 [ C ] a bird that lives by water and has webbed feet (= feet with skin between the toes), a short neck, and a large beak
[ U ] the meat of this bird
Examples
- a duck pond
- Some poultry farmers keep turkeys and ducks as well as chickens.
- The cat sat in the tree ready to pounce on the ducks below.
- The ducks started quacking loudly when we threw them some bread.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Ducks, geese & game birds
- drake
- duckling
- game
- gander
- geese
- goose
- gosling
- grouse
- guinea fowl
- mallard
- partridge
- pheasant
- quail
- teal
- turkey
- wildfowl
You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Kinds of meat
duck noun (PERSON)
[ C ] UK old-fashioned informal also ducks a friendly way of talking to someone you like:
[ as form of address ] Come and sit beside me, duck.
Idiom(s)
get/have your ducks in a row
take to sth like a duck to water
duckverb
uk/dʌk/us/dʌk/[ I or T ] to move your head or the top part of your body quickly down, especially to avoid being hit:
I saw the ball hurtling towards me and ducked (down).
Duck your head or you'll bang it on the doorframe.
[ T ] to push someone underwater for a short time:
The boys were splashing around and ducking each other in the pool.
[ I + adv/prep ] to move quickly to a place, especially in order not to be seen:
When he saw them coming, he ducked into a doorway.
Phrasal verb(s)
duck out of sth