duck

duck¹ S3 [dʌk] n

[: Old English; Origin: duce]

1.)

a very common water bird with short legs and a wide beak, used for its meat, eggs, and soft feathers

2.)

a female duck

→↑drake

3.) [U]

the meat of a duck used as food

▪ roast duck with orange sauce

4.) take to sth 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

BrE spoken used to speak to someone, especially a woman, in a friendly way

▪ What can I get you, ducks?

6.)

a ↑score of zero by a ↑batsman in a game of ↑cricket

→↑dead duck, ↑lame duck,like water off a duck's back at ↑water¹ (8), ↑ducks and drakes, ↑sitting duck

duck ²

duck² v

1.) also duck down [I and T]

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.) [I 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.) [T] informal

to avoid something, especially a difficult or unpleasant duty

= ↑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.) [T]

to push someone under water for a short time as a joke

duck sb under sth

▪ Tom grabbed him from behind to duck him under the surface.

duck out of [duck out of sth] phr v

to avoid doing something that you have to do or have promised to do

▪ I always ducked out of history lessons at school.