duck
Forms
- present (v1)
- duck
- past (v2)
- ducked
- past participle (v3)
- ducked
- present participle
- ducking
- 3rd person singular
- ducks
- Plural
- ducks
Definitions
1.To quickly lower (the head or body), often in order to prevent it from being struck by something.
- Rimmer ducked his body low into his chair, so just his head remained above the table top, and peered past the backs of the examinees in front of him, waiting for the adjudicator to make his move.
2.To lower (something) into water; to thrust or plunge under liquid and suddenly withdraw.
3.To go under the surface of water and immediately reappear; to plunge one's head into water or other liquid.
4.To bow.
- The Learned pate / Duckes to the Golden Foole.
1.A cave passage containing water with low, or no, airspace.
2.Any of certain aquatic birds of the family Anatidae, having a flat bill and webbed feet, distinguished from swans and geese by generally being smaller and shorter-necked.
- The payment processor’s layoffs and the curious incident of the duck were first reported by Business Insider.
3.Specifically, an adult female duck; contrasted with drake and with duckling.
4.The flesh of a duck used as food.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #3573
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Etymology
From Middle English ducken, duken, douken (“to duck, plunge under water, submerge”), from Old English *dūcan (“to dip, dive, duck”), from Proto-West Germanic *dūkan, from Proto-Germanic *dūkaną (“to dip, dive, bend down, stoop, duck”).
Cognates