Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to feed the duck

to feed the duck

3 1.0
To give food to ducks at a park or pond for fun
  • phrasal verb
: dar de comer a los patos
  • We'll feed the ducks.
  • watch people feed the duck
  • park to feed the duck

And we ride our bike together and go to Central Park and we feed the ducks even though we're not supposed to.

Examples

  • Want to go to the park and feed the ducks?

    The Silent Child (2017)

  • You fed the ducks.

    21 Jump Street (2012)

  • I, uh, came out here to feed the ducks.

    Mindhunters (2004)

  • Maybe we could feed the ducks together.

    Mindhunters (2004)

  • I used to go feed the ducks there when I was little.

    Spiral (2007)

  • Have you been feeding the ducks?

    The Dunes (2021)

  • Rose has her check up, and then I'm taking her to the park to feed the ducks.

    The Grudge 3 (2009)

  • She had never missed a school day before, and we had plans to feed the ducks.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • We would feed the ducks, swans, and other birds.

    Blog text (11)

  • On sunny afternoons, families love to feed the ducks at the local pond.

How Much

to overfeed
1 3.5
to feed the duck
3 1.0

Surface Forms

feed the duck infinitive
feeding the duck present participle
feeds the duck third person singular
fed the duck past
fed the duck past participle

Morphology

feed + the + duck

The meaning 'to give food to a duck' is directly and transparently derived from the constituents 'feed' (give food) + 'the' (definite article) + 'duck' (aquatic bird); there is no idiomatic or metaphorical shift. This is a simple literal action verb + object construction common across languages, so a B1 learner who knows the words will readily understand it.

Etymology

The expression feed the duck comes from the simple picture of people at a park pond throwing bread or seeds so the ducks can eat. So it means 'to give food to a duck', often as a small, fun activity.