duck
- noun
- /dʌk/
- Jargon
- Today's market, with its slew of alliances and partnerships, makes slow-moving public hospitals sitting ducks for competitors.
Examples
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My students call this the duck for obvious reasons.
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He's a sitting duck out there.
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You're a sitting duck, man!
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We're sitting ducks here.
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We'll be sitting ducks.
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After scoring a duck in his last match, the batsman was eager to perform better in the next innings.
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He was disappointed to see his favorite player make a duck during such an important game.
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In cricket, a duck means the batsman did not score any runs before getting out.
Synonyms
A score or total of zero
A cricket player scoring zero runs
Idioms
Compounds
A water bird like a mallard that lives in lakes and rivers and is not kept by people
- Australian
A mammal from Australia that lays eggs and has a duck-like bill and webbed feet
A large wild North American duck with a sloping profile and red head prized by hunters for its meat
- Archaic
A pink sparkling wine that people make by mixing red and white wines and serve cold
A large sea duck from northern coasts whose female gives soft down used in quilts and pillows
- Jargon
A habit of preferring the first way you learn and resisting later changes
- US
A diving duck from North America with a blue-grey bill that lives in lakes and near the sea
Surface Forms
Etymology
Duck in cricket comes from the phrase 'duck's egg' because a zero looks like an egg, so a batsman who scores zero is said to have a 'duck'.