Word a Day
duck
What does duck mean?
duck (verb): to quickly lower (the head or body), often in order to prevent it from being struck by something.
Definition: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
How do you pronounce duck?
/dʌk/ (IPA, American English). The app reads every word aloud.
Where does duck come from?
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”).
Etymology: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Test yourself: do you know “duck”?
Tap an answer to check it. The same questions the app asks.
What does “duck” mean?
to cause the manifestation of something (emotion, picture, etc.) in someone's mind or imagination
Not quite: that's what evoke means.
to make a sound from the vocal cords without pronouncing any real words, with one's lips closed
Not quite: that's what hum means.
to turn something around so that it faces the opposite direction or runs in the opposite sequence
Not quite: that's what reverse means.
to quickly lower (the head or body), often in order to prevent it from being struck by something
Right! That's what “duck” means.
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