Jetshing's Blog

Today we’d like to talk about idioms and collocations with duck:

a dead duck
1. (informal) something or someone that is not successful or useful
?? The project was a dead duck from the start due to a lack of funding.
?? My first agent turned out to be a bit of a dead duck and he failed to find me any work.
2. (American & Australian informal) someone who is going to be punished severely for something they have done
?? If Dad finds out you used the car, you’ll be a dead duck.

a sitting duck:Fig. someone or something vulnerable to attack, physical or verbal. (Alludes to a duck floating on the water, not suspecting that it is the object of a hunter or predator. *Typically: be ~; like ~; looking like~.)
You look like a sitting duck out there. Get in here where the enemy cannot fire at you.
The senator was a sitting duck because of his unpopular position on school reform.

as a duck takes to water:Clich?? easily and naturally.
She took to singing just as a duck takes to water.
The baby adapted to the bottle as a duck takes to water.

duck and cover:
1. . Lit. to bend down and seek protection against an attack.
??When the gunfire started, we had to duck and cover or get killed.
2. Fig. to dodge something, such as an issue or a difficult question, and attempt to shield oneself against similar issues or questions.
??The candidate’s first reaction to the question was to duck and cover.
??The debaters were ducking and covering throughout the evening.

duck down:to stoop down quickly, as if to avoid being hit.
He ducked down when he heard the gunshot. Duck down and get out of the way.

duck out (of something):Fig. to evade something; to escape doing something.
Are you trying to duck out of your responsibility?
Fred tried to duck out of going to the dance.

duck soup: (American informal) very easy; an easy thing to do.
For Maria, knitting a sweater is duck soup.
Jill: This jar is stuck. Could you open it for me?
Jane: Sure. Duck soup.

ducking and diving:(informal) if you spend your time ducking and diving, you are involved in many different activities, especially ones which are not honest
‘What do you do for a living?’ ‘This and that, ducking and diving.’

easy as duck soup:very easy. (*Also: as ~.)
Finding your way to the shopping center is easy as duck soup
(*easy as A, B, C and *easy as falling off a log; *easy as rolling off a log; *easy as (apple) pie)

get one’s ducks in a row: (American informal) to get one’s affairs in order or organized.
Jane is organized. She really gets all her ducks in a row right away.
You can’t hope to go into a company and sell something until you get your ducks in a row.

If it looks like a duck and walks/quack/flies etc. like a duck, it is a duck.:(humorous) used to say that something is probably exactly what it seems to be and we should trust our judgment about it They’re calling it a clinic, not a prison, but if it looks like a duck and swims like a duck, then it is a duck, I think.

lame duck
1. Fig. someone who is in the last period of a term in an elective office and cannot run for reelection.
???? You can’t expect much from a lame duck.
???? As a lame duck, there’s not a lot I can do.
2. Fig. having to do with someone in the last period of a term in an elective office. (Used as an adjective; sometimes lame-duck.)
???? You don’t expect much from a lame-duck president.
???? Lame-duck Congresses tend to do things they wouldn’t dare do otherwise.

be (like) water off a duck’s back:Fig. easily; without any apparent effect.
Insults rolled off John like water off a duck’s back.
The bullets had no effect on the steel door. They fell away like water off a duck’s back.

Lord love a duck! : Fig. My goodness! (An exclamation of surprise.)
Lord love a duck! How that rain is coming down!
Lord love a duck! Did you see that cat chasing that dog?

Lovely weather for ducks, and Fine weather for ducks. :Clich?? a greeting meaning that this unpleasant rainy weather must be good for something.
Bill: Hi, Bob. How do you like this weather?
Bob: Lovely weather for ducks.
Sally: What a lot of rain!
Tom: Yeah. Lovely weather for ducks. Don’t care for it much myself.

take to something like a duck to water: to learn how to do something very quickly and to enjoy doing it
Sue just took to motherhood like a duck to water.
He’s taken to his new school like a duck to water.