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Glite Dictionary
duck's egg

duck's egg

9.9
A cricket player scoring zero runs
  • noun
  • Jargon
translation icon : cero
  • The batsman was disappointed to finish his innings with a duck's egg against his name.

Examples

  • After being bowled out for a duck's egg, she vowed to improve her batting in the next match.

  • It's embarrassing for any player to get a duck's egg in such an important game.

  • He scored a duck's egg in the final match.

  • After getting a duck's egg, the batsman was disappointed.

  • After being bowled out for a duck's egg, she vowed to improve her batting in the next match.

  • It's embarrassing for any player to get a duck's egg in such an important game.

  • The batsman was disappointed to finish his innings with a duck's egg against his name.

Synonyms

duck
vsduck's egg
  • Jargon
81 9.1

A score of zero by a batsman in cricket

is used for zero across a whole match rather than a single innings
goose egg
vsduck's egg
  • Informal
3 8.1

A score or total of zero

is the cricket specific term used for a zero within a match

Surface Forms

duck's egg singular
duck's eggs plural

Morphology

duck's + egg

The meaning 'a score of zero' cannot be directly derived from the literal constituents 'duck's' and 'egg' — a B1 learner who knows both words would most likely interpret it as an animal's egg. This is a sport-specific idiom (metaphorical via the egg/zero shape) and is not transparently compositional or cross-linguistically obvious, so its sense is unpredictable without prior exposure.

Etymology

The cricket term duck's egg may come from the number 0 looking like an egg on old scoreboards. People pictured a duck's egg where the runs should be, so the phrase means 'a score of zero'.