Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (Irish) short and squat, with large buttocks.

1948

P. Kavanagh Tarry Flynn (1965) 78: All the girls, with the exception of Mary Callan, were squat, and as the country phrase had it ‘duck-arsed’.

2. a general derog.

1966

B. Reckord Skyvers I ii: Bossed about by a duck-arsed public school bloke I ’ated.

see duck’s arse n.

see duck’s arse n.

(US) a short person.

1939		R.I. McDavid ‘Citadel Gloss.’ AS XIV:1 26/2: duck-butt [...] A short person.
1940		in Campbell & Campbell War Paint 78: [aircraft nose art] ‘Duck-Butt’.
1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS.
1981		(con. 1966) P. Conroy Lords of Discipline 311: Just shut up and wrap ankles like a good little duckbutt.

1. semen.

1933		AS VIII:1 48: duck butter, n. Sperm, seminal fluid.
1950		in V. Randolph Pissing in the Snow (1988) 138: He smeared a handful of duckbutter right under the town girl’s nose.
1953		Randolph & Wilson Down in the Holler 114: Some people connect it vaguely with the common term duck-butter, which means semen or seminal fluid.
2001		Thug’s Journal 10 May 🌐 Swappin spit with Queenie [...] Got duckbutter on the head gaskets.

2. smegma.

1965		H. Rhodes Chosen Few (1966) 34: Th’ las’ cat Two-Ton got hold of went up for havin’ duck butter on his joint.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular.
1981		AS LVI:1 16: In my own native dialect (of the Gulf Coastal plain of Texas) duck butter means ‘smegma’.

see duck’s arse n.

(N.Z. juv.) the ‘plop’ of a stone falling into water.

c.1940		R. Simonsen (1951) ipostcard DNZE 233/3: duckfart was used in a game of skimming stones by Palmerston North boys.
1968		G. Slatter Pagan Game (1969) 51: The hurling of stones straight up in the air so they would fall into the back-water with that satisfying plup known as a duck fart.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.

see separate entry .

(US) an unpleasant, unpopular person.

1975		L. Dills CB Slanguage 35: Duck Plucker: obscene term (euphemism).
1977		Maledicta 1 (Summer) 16: Something stronger is searched for, and many people find it in sexual accusations: that the other person is impotent, a masturbator, and especially that he is a homosexual or has sexual relations with animals: he is a duck-fucker or a pig-sticker.
2003		posting at sclassic.ssonicnet.com 1 Oct. 🌐 For the record, I also feel that anyone who derides someone else simply because of their choice of music, is a numbnut duckfucker.

1. (US black) a woman with short, nappy hair.

1980

E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 144: Synonyms for chickenhead are duckhead, hen, thunder chicken, nail head and short nails.

2. a fool.

1984

LaBarge & Holt Sweetwater Gunslinger 201 (1990) 102: Shoot, this duckhead acts like he’s flying blindfold!

(Ulster) a very thick slice of bread (and butter).

1997

Share Slanguage.

short legs; thus duck-legged, short.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1810		‘Paddy Carey’ in A Garland of New Songs (3) 3: While Pat was coaxing duck-legg’d Mary.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1833		Spirit of the Times (NY) 12 Jan. 1/3: Why can a short man travel in the mud? Because he is duck-legged.

see duck-fucker

1. (also ducking pond) the vagina.

c.1637		R. Brome Damoiselle III ii: Truly but one that’s a Gamester amongst us at the ducking pond; a Cobler, but the neatest Fellow at Poetry.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1896		Farmer Vocabula Amatoria (1966) 175: Livre, m. The female pudendum; ‘the duck-pond’.

2. a joc. name for the Atlantic Ocean.

1920

E. Blair in College Days (Eton) 4 1 Apr. in Complete Works X (1998) 64: I guess you College students on this side of the duckpond know what’s what in the liquor department.

see separate entry .

see duck’s arse n.

(Aus.) a drink of water and a wash.

1908		Bulletin (Sydney) 6 Aug. 10/3: Unsubstantial Diet. / Benevolent Old Party: ‘And have you had nothing to eat this morning?’ / Derelict: ‘Nothin’, lady, ’cept a duck’s breakfast.’ / B.O.P.: ‘A duck’s breakfast – dear me!’ / Derelict: ‘Yes, mum. A drink o’ worter an’ a wash.’.
1913		Sport (Adelaide) 28 June 9/2: They Say [...] That Mousy G. should not train on a duck’s breakfast if he wishes to be a champion.
1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. of Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: ducks breakfast. A drink of water and a wash.
1933		(con. WWI) A.E. Strong in Partridge Sl. Today and Yesterday 287: I had started off with a duck’s breakfast, but I saw a cookhouse and decided to give it a pop for a binder.
1938		Press (Canterbury) 2 Apr. 18: ‘To be a dag at,’ ‘to put across a beaut,’ ‘to jerry to,’ ‘ducks’ breakfast,’ ‘to float up to,’ ‘to blow up to,’ ‘to sleep in the Star Hotel’ need no explanation.

1. (US black) a woman with unkempt hair.

1980

E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 197: Another group of expressions address female appearance: [...] duck’s butt (unkempt hair).

2. see duck’s arse n.

(Aus.) a drink of water, but no food to accompany it.

2002

Stay Awake Tonight Fiction 🌐 ‘Did he go for a kip?’ This struck her as a little odd. ‘Good. make sure he has more than a duck’s dinner, okay?’ ‘What?’ ‘He should eat.’.

having short legs.

1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. of Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: ducks disease. A description of a person’s physical build indicating that his legs are short and his buttocks are too near the ground.
1952		C. Harris Death of a Barrow Boy 62: That? ’S an elephant. Elephant with duck’s disease.
1984		P. Barker Blow Your House Down 74: There was all hell let loose if you forgot and called her Waddle, because she did, you know. Duck’s disease.
2001		OnLine Dict. of Playground Sl. 🌐 ducks disease adj. to have short legs, i.e. from having one’s bum too close the floor.

1. (W.I.) trouble.

1970		F. Collymore Notes for Gloss. of Barbadian Dial. 42: Duck’s guts. In trouble; as, If you get catch doing that boy, you going to be in the duck’s guts.
2001		(con. 1945–6) P. Doyle Devil’s Jump (2008) 101: No one you’d know. But it’s [i.e. a record] the duck’s guts.

2. (Aus.) something superlative.

1994		Senate Hansard 9 Nov. n.p.: Senator Ellison: This is the ducks guts, as we term it in Western Australia.
2002		Larry’s Aussie Sl. and Phrase Dict. 🌐 the Ducks guts – some things really great (don’t ask me why).

(orig. milit.) a simple operation.

1960		C. Cooper Jr Syndicate (1998) 68: It wouldn’t have been difficult for him to play duck shoot while I drooled all over the floor.
1979		T. Wolfe Right Stuff 88: That great duck shoot out over Korea.

(Aus./N.Z.) fighting for status, rank, position, esp. in political terms; occas. as duck-shove v.; thus duck-shover, one who uses unfair business methods; in gambling use, manipulating, using sleight of hand.

[1870		D. Blair N&Q 6 Aug. iii: Duck-shoving is the term used by our Melbourne cabmen to express the unprofessional trick of breaking the rank, in order to push past the cabman on the stand for the purpose of picking up a stray passenger or so].
[1900–10		Stephens & O’Brien Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 65: DUCK-SHOVING: poultry stealing, a form of petty theft sneered at by higher grade thieves].
1912		E. Pugh City Of The World 265: ’Cos, you see, in duck-shoving at cards you ain’t got no footlights and no band between you and your audience.
1913		Eve. News (Sydney) 3 July 11/4: [from UK] ‘I am told,’ said a plaintiff in the Southwark County Court, ‘that the man (referring to the defendant) is nothing more than a duck-shover - a man who gets things on the ‘bounce’ and the ‘nod.’ .
[1914		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 4 Mar. 3/2: I was workin’ on the quiet / [...] / So as how I’d not be summoned / For duck-shoving].
1928		Framlingham Wkly News 8 Dec. 3/7: Thieves’ Dialect [...] Woe betide the ‘shyster’ (cheat) who tries and ‘duck-shoving’ (bamboozling).
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 26: Duckshover, one who adopts unfair business methods.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 40/2: duckshove to cheat or pass responsibility on to someone else, perceived as a typical bureaucratic trick; [...] Originally cabbies jumping the queue in mid-C19 Melbourne cab ranks.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].
2006		Nat. Conf. of Catholic Charities (US) ‘Catholic Charities Rev.’ 32: We know that on the political scene — our government, for example — is duck shoving and evading the issue.

(Ulster) mucus produced in the eye.

1997

Share Slanguage.

see bee’s knees n.

see separate entry .

see cat’s meow n.

1. (also duck’s tail) a type of hairstyle in which the back of the hair is turned upwards in a manner similar to a duck’s tail.

1947		J. Steinbeck Wayward Bus 98: From his side pocket he took a little comb and combed his hair back smoothly and patted it behind where the suggestion of a duck tail stood out.
[1951		Morn. Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld) 2 Mar. 5/4: The young Sydney street-corner men grow thick, waved, oily hair gathered like a duck’s tail].
1956		Joe Clay ‘Don’t Mess with My Ducktail’ 🎵 If you mess with my ducktails, I’ll get so mad at you.
1963		L.F. Freed Crime in S. Afr. 80: Their hair is invariably dyed ginger, and cut and brushed back to simulate a ducktail.
1965		W. Dick Bunch of Ratbags 160: He had black wavy hair cut in a Tony Curtis style with a duck’s tail.
1977		Sun. Times Rev. 21 Aug. 29: His greasy ducktails straggled past his turned-up collar.
1983		S. King Christine 355: He had started combing his hair back in a fifties-style ducktail.
1999		E. Bunker Mr Blue 25: I wore a ducktail upswept along the sides, so thick with Three Flowers pomade.
2004		A. Kleinzahler Cutty one Rock (2005) 89: Ducktail. leather jacket. Looked like a robber.
2012		R. Milward Kimberly’s Capital Punishment (2023) 388: [T]he Square-Faced Businessman’s greasy ducktail.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1943		Intercollegian 61-2 n.p.: Some of these boys affected the drape coat with the local addition of a "duck-tail’ haircut.
1947		I. Shulman Amboy Dukes 4: The boys sported duck-tail haircuts: long, shaggy and clipped to form a point at the backs of their heads.
1953		Kramer & Karr Teen-Age Gangs 28: From behind the cap his glossy black hair came together then pushed up in the ducktail hair dress which was fashionable among the War Hawks.
1957		Intellect 85-6 336: Nonconformity reflects itself in appearance, to include leather jackets and duck-tail haircuts. [...] Youth taking such pains with their hair are clearly rebelling against something, setting themselves apart from human society.
1960		E. De Roo Big Rumble 28: His black hair was plastered into a duck-tail cowlick.
1993		T. Jones Pugilist at Rest 35: But when I cut it short, ducktail style, everybody always mistaking me for Elvis.
1999		Guardian Guide 13–19 Nov. 4: Goodman’s addiction to hair pomade resulted in a frightening ducktail do.

3. (S.Afr.) a teddyboy.

1956		Rand Daily Mail 21 Dec. 6: A man who admitted picking up a police constable and throwing him to the ground, said in the [...] Magistrate’s Court [...] that because he was a former ducktail, trying to reform, the world ‘had it in for him’ [DSAE].
1963		Wilson & Mafeje Langa 23 : He uses a mixture of Afrikaans and Xhosa slang – indeed the language of the tsotsis in Johannesburg, mensetaal, is said to be identical with that of white ‘ducktails’, and in Cape Town tsotsi and ‘ducktail’ speech approximates.
1963		L.F. Freed Crime in S. Afr. 105: Thus a ducktail is a youth dressed in the manner already described, but always with long hair swept back at the sides, and he may or may not be respectable.
1972		E. Leroux To a Dubious Salvation 286: The ducktail twanged the guitar as though he could hear the truth in the instrument.
1977		C. Hope Ducktails in Gray Theatre Two (1981) 35: jimmie: Y’know who I am? boy: Sure. You’ Jimmie. Used to be a ducktail.
1981		C. Hope Ducktails in Gray Theatre Two (1981) 59: Old ducktails don’t go to jail. they just get older.
1990		R. Gool Cape Town Coolie 156: A firm of Afrikaaner Nationalists [...] were assembling an armed mob of ducktails or European hooligans to move in if any demonstrations against rent increases occurred.

4. attrib. use of sense 3.

1963		Wilson & Mafeje Langa 23 : He uses a mixture of Afrikaans and Xhosa slang – indeed the language of the tsotsis in Johannesburg, mensetaal, is said to be identical with that of white ‘ducktails’, and in Cape Town tsotsi and ‘ducktail’ speech approximates.
1963		L.F. Freed Crime in S. Afr. 80: These youths are accordingly known as ‘ducktail boys’, but they are also referred to as ‘teddy boys’ on account of their Edwardian style of dress.

(W.I.) to be in a hopeless situation, to be in irretrievable difficulties.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

used to emphasize one’s absolute agreement; thus phr. can a duck whistle?, a sarcastic rejoinder.

1808		G. Colman Yngr Wags of Windsor 14: Bull. You have been in service before? Looney: Does a duck swim.
1837		R. Nicholson Cockney Adventures 4 Nov. 7: ‘Vill yer arn a shilling easy?’ said the groom. ‘Can a duck swim?’ answered he of the frock.
1842		S. Lover Handy Andy 35: ‘Will you dine with me?’ ‘Will a duck swim,’ chuckled out Jack Horan.
1846		H.W. Forester My Shooting Box 90: ‘A roast leg of mutton?’ [...] ‘Will you have some?’ ‘Will a fish swim?’.
1852		Kalida Venture (OH) 22 Oct. 1/3: He asked him ina whisper, ‘Can you ride?’ ‘Can a duck swim?’ returned the fellow with a knowing wink.
1867		‘Under the Earth’ (n Dick’s Standard Plays ((1871)) II i: hart: Do you smoke? tom: Can a duck swim?
1896		B.L. Farjeon Betrayal of John Fordham 281: ‘If I orfer yer a job will yer take it?’ ‘Will a duck swim?’ I answered.
1898		L. Barclay [perf. Vesta Victoria] He calls me his own Grace Darling 🎵 When the parson says, ‘Will you marry this man?’ / I’ll say, ‘Can a duck swim?’.
1907		B. Fisher A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 11: Will he be there Monday? Can a duck swim?
1910		O. Johnson Varmint 203: ‘P. Lentz study?’ said Finnegan contemptuously. ‘Can a duck whistle?’.
1915		T. Burke Nights in Town 397: Do I know the South London Road? Does a duck know water?
1922		Joyce Ulysses (1960) 405: Could you make a hole in another pint? – Could a swim duck? says I.
1932		M. Marshall Travels of Tramp-Royal 264: ‘And the makings?’ ‘The makings, too, chum.’ ‘Can a duck swim!’.
1941		J.M. Cain Mildred Pierce (1985) 480: ‘But – aren’t you interested?’ ‘Does a duck like water?’.
1953		B. Behan Scarperer (1966) 38: ‘Would you like a ball of malt in the morning?’ [...] ‘Would a duck swim?’.
1954		K. Vonnegut ‘A Present for Big Saint Nick’ in Bagombo Snuff Box (1999) 164: ‘Is he drunk?’ said Mrs. Pullman. ‘Do fish swim?’ said Bernie.
1965		L. Dunne Goodbye to the Hill (1966) 63: ‘Do you drink, Paddy?’ ‘Does a fish swim?’.
1966		P. Boyle At Night All Cats Are Grey 65: ‘Would you face a pint, Kreuger?’ Would a duck swim? ‘Yes, sir. I would indeed.’.
1970		G. Scott-Heron Vulture (1996) 12: ‘You int’rested in some good Red?’ he asked. ‘Can a fish dig water?’.
1989		A. Higgins ‘The Bird I Fancied’ in Helsingør Station and Other Departures 160: ‘Would you chance another [drink]?’ ‘Would a duck swim?’.

to do something irrespective of the outcome.

1846		Bentleys’ Misc. 316: Another waggon, drawn by eight bullocks, having broken down, I determined to chance the ducks and push on.
1848		Bell’s Life in Sydney 1 Jan. 3/4: She was discharged and promised to go home and ‘chance the ducks’.
1853		Bell’s Life in Sydney 25 June 3/2: I’m as right as you, uncle, and chance the ducks; ha! ha! ha!
1873		Sl. Dict. 113: Chance the ducks, an expression signifying come what may. ‘I'll do it, and chance the ducks.’.
1877		Newtonian 61: Can there be an explanation of that remarkable phrase ‘Chance the ducks’ – which one often hears used so freely.
1890-1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 16: Chance the Ducks, to risk all danger.
1929		G.L. Apperson Eng. Pvbs.

1. (Aus.) used by workers to indicate that someone outside the group is present, e.g. a manager/foreman or a woman in masculine environments, such as a construction site, a shearing shed [letter from J. Lambert 04/08/2022: I half suspect that Dingwall invented the term himself for the movie. Especially since there are absolutely no cites before 1975. Also in NZ English, but only from 1988].

1975		J. Dingwell Sunday Too Far Away [movie script] Shearer: Ducks on the pond! Shearer: Ducks on the pond! Cocky's daughter: Good morning. Shearer: Meeting. [men talk among themselves] [...] Shearer: Will you, leave please, Miss Dawson? Cocky's daughter: No.
1987		A. Buzo Glancing Blows 21: A shearer’s wife told me that when a woman entered a shearing shed the first man to see her called out, ‘Ducks on the pond , boys’.
1991		(con. 1891) E. O’Neill On the Whipping Side 30: ‘I’ve seen a shed come to complete standstill when the manager’s wife came down with a message. Someone whispers “ducks on the pond” and they all down tools’.
1999		A. Summers [bk title] Ducks on the pond : an autobiography.
2014		NSW Skills Board [pamphlet title] Ducks on the Pond Women in Trade Apprenticeships.
2022		H. Manns in Twitter 3 Aug. 🌐 I did talkback about jargon/tradie language on ABC Sydney today. My fave fm a caller was ‘ducks are in the pond’ to say the home owners - who hated swearing - were back and you had to watch your mouth.
2022		T. Cornall in Twitter 3 Aug. 🌐 Heh ‘ducks on the pond’ is familiar to me from many other work contexts - including farm work and construction sites - to refer specifically to women being present.

2. (Aus.) in bingo, 22.

1984		Partridge DSUE (8 edn).
2022		T. Cornall in Twitter 3 Aug. 🌐 I also used to be a professional bingo caller [...] and ‘ducks on a pond’ was sometimes used to refer to the number 22.

(US) for no special reason, ‘for the hell of it’.

1900		F.V. Fisher Transformation of Job 13: ‘Gracious sakes, boy! what did you scare me for?’ [...] ‘Oh, just for ducks!’.
1913		J. London Valley of the Moon (1914) 520: I passed young Chavon [...] an’ – I don’t know why – just for ducks, I guess – I up an’ asked ’m if he thought the old man would lease the hundred an’ forty.
1931		(con. 1890s) L. Steffens Autobiog. 276: ‘But what are you doing it for?’ ‘Oh, just for ducks.’ [HDAS].
1939		J. Steinbeck Grapes of Wrath (1951) 12: He just done it for ducks. He wasn’t puttin’ on no dog.
1962		E. Shepard Press Passes 219: They’re never happier than when pounding newsmen with their rifle butts, just for the ducks of it [HDAS].

(US) to have one’s affairs in order .

1900		Dept. Transport (US Congress) 752: I am concerned about going into something unless you have all your ducks in a row .
1911		Railroad Telegrapher 28:1 1019/2: This should encourage our committee to begin to get their ducks in a row for a trip to Wilmington .
1934		K. Fowler All the Skeletons in All the Closets 23: He preferred to take his time, lolling around and setting all his ducks in a row before he made a definite move.
1964		E. Sevareid This Is Eric Sevareid 144: He liked to have all his ducks in a row before he moved.
1978		S. King Stand (1990) 635: I’ll bet he’s got the trains running on time and all his ducks in a row.
1983		S. King Christine 303: He had a call to make, but it might be better to finish thinking this through first — have all his ducks in a row.
1996		C. Palahniuk Fight Club 138: Get all my ducks in a row. Update my resume. That sort of thing.
2006		S. Grafton S Is for Silence 243: He likes to have all his ducks in a row before he takes the plunge.
2011		F. Bill ‘Cold, Hard Love’ in Crimes in Southern Indiana [ebook] ‘[W]e gotta make sure our ducks are lined. We’re talkin’ about takin’ a person’s life’.
2013		K. Sampson Killing Pool 100: They won’t make their move until their ground team have given the nod that all the little duckies are lined up in a row.
2023		M. Herron Secret Hours 216: ‘[I]f you could sub me for a couple of nights? I just need to get my ducks in a row’.

(US) heavily, solidly; intensely, thus landed like a duck...

1839		T.C. Haliburton Clockmaker 105: Lord , I’d come down on him like a duck on a June bug; I’d make him wake snakes, and walk his chalks.
1843		‘Wildrake’ ‘Great Western Sketches’ in Illuminated Mag. 1-3 21/2: Burn me, but I’ down on him like a duck on a June bug’.
1865		H. Castlemon Frank on the Prairie 59: ‘[H]e’ll go back an’ tell the rest of ’em , an’ the fust thing we know, they ’ll be down on us like a hawk on a June-bug.
1872		Our Young Folks 8 7: Jack was arter him to git it back; he lit on him Iike a hawk on a June-bug .
1874		G. Wright The Boston Base Ball Club 42: [A] runner for the first base may light on him like a nighthawk on a June-bug.
1885		H. Castlemon Young Wild-fowlers 294: ‘If there is [a police-boat] [...] she will come at us like a hawk at a June bug , and we want to hold ourselves in readiness to run’.
1889		World (N.Y.) 19 Aug. 2/1: Fore then sent a clinker to centre and landed on first like a duck on a dough-pile.
1902		W.N. Harben Abner Daniel 221: The feller that owns it ud jump at it like a duck on a June-bug.
1938		C. Himes ‘Pork Chop Paradise’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 254: [T]he two [prison guards] lit on him like ducks on a June bug and beat some of the black out of him.
1951		Kerouac On the Road (The Orig. Scroll) (2007) 309: He took Berthoud Pass like a duck on a June bug.

see play ducks and drakes with under play v.

to be penny-pinching; the speaker inserts the name of a large, local lake.

1970

D. Jenkins Dogged Victims 145: [T]here’s not too many who'd give the ducks a drink if they owned Lake Mead.

(US campus) an excl. of dismissal; a euph. for go fuck a duck! under fuck v.

1932

J.L. Kuethe ‘Johns Hopkins Jargon’ in AS VII:5 332: go milk a duck — ‘mind your own business.’.