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Glite Dictionary
golden duck

golden duck

9.0
Being out for zero runs on the first ball a batsman faces in cricket
  • noun
  • Jargon
translation icon : cero en el primer lanzamiento
  • Missing the ball completely on the first attempt resulted in a golden duck for the new batsman.

Examples

  • The batsman was disappointed to be dismissed for a golden duck on his first ball.

  • After facing just one delivery, he walked back to the pavilion with a golden duck on the scorecard.

  • You can't get out on a golden duck.

    Backyard Ashes (2013)

Synonyms

duck
vsgolden duck
  • Jargon
81 9.1

A score of zero by a batsman in cricket

is being out on the very first ball faced rather than any zero
goose egg
vsgolden duck
  • Informal
3 8.1

A score or total of zero

is being out on the very first ball faced rather than a general zero
duck's egg
vsgolden duck
  • Jargon
9.9

A cricket player scoring zero runs

is being out on the very first ball rather than a match total

Surface Forms

golden duck singular
golden ducks plural

Morphology

golden + duck

Knowing 'duck' as a score of zero gives the learner the idea of a 'zero' and 'golden' conveys a special or marked quality, so the phrase signals a particular kind of duck. However, the specific convention that it denotes dismissal on the very first ball faced is a sport-specific convention that is not inferable from 'golden' alone, so the exact sense is not fully predictable without prior exposure.

Etymology

Golden duck comes from cricket slang where a duck means 'zero' because the number 0 looks like a duck's egg. The word golden was added to show the batsman was out on the very first ball faced, so a golden duck means 'out for zero on the first ball'.