duck
/dʌk/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.21 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To quickly lower (the head or body), often in order to prevent it from being struck by something.
Transitive verb
verb
To lower (something) into water; to thrust or plunge under liquid and suddenly withdraw.
Transitive verb
verb
To go under the surface of water and immediately reappear; to plunge one's head into water or other liquid.
Intransitive verb
Example Sentences
- "As some raw youth in country bred, To arms by thirst of honour led, When at a skirmish first he hears The bullets whistling round his ears, Will duck his head aside"
- "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."
- "Adams after ducking the Squire tvvice or thrice leaped out of the Tub, […]"
- "[…]In Tiber ducking thrice, by break of day[…]"
- "The Learned pate / Duckes to the Golden Foole."
- "Victorian women choosing to duck the demands of domestic life to spend their time doing something they enjoyed is hardly a novel idea."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *dūkaną Proto-West Germanic *dūkan Old English *dūcan Middle English ducken English duck 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 Related to Scots dulk (“to duck”), Middle Dutch ducken (“to duck”), Low German ducken (“to duck”), German ducken (“to duck”), Danish dukke, dykke (“to dive”). Related also to Scots dook, douk (“to bathe, drench, soak, baptise”), West Frisian dûke (“to plunge, dive”), Dutch duiken (“to dive, plunge, duck”), Low German duken (“to duck, dive, stoop”), German tauchen (“to dive, plunge, immerse, duck”), Swedish dyka (“to dive, submerge”).