Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Duck \Duck\, n. [OE. duke, doke. See {Duck}, v. t. ]
1. (Zool.) Any bird of the subfamily {Anatin[ae]}, family
{Anatid[ae]}.
Note: The genera and species are numerous. They are divided
into {river ducks} and {sea ducks}. Among the former
are the common domestic duck ({Anas boschas}); the wood
duck ({Aix sponsa}); the beautiful mandarin duck of
China ({Dendronessa galeriliculata}); the Muscovy duck,
originally of South America ({Cairina moschata}). Among
the sea ducks are the eider, canvasback, scoter, etc.
2. A sudden inclination of the bead or dropping of the
person, resembling the motion of a duck in water.
Here be, without duck or nod, Other trippings to be
trod. --Milton.
{Bombay duck} (Zo["o]l.), a fish. See {Bummalo}.
{Buffel duck}, or {Spirit duck}. See {Buffel duck}.
{Duck ant} (Zo["o]l.), a species of white ant in Jamaica
which builds large nests in trees.
{Duck barnacle}. (Zo["o]l.) See {Goose barnacle}.
{Duck hawk}. (Zo["o]l.)
(a) In the United States: The peregrine falcon.
(b) In England: The marsh harrier or moor buzzard.
{Duck mole} (Zo["o]l.), a small aquatic mammal of Australia,
having webbed feet and a bill resembling that of a duck
({Ornithorhynchus anatinus}). It belongs the subclass
Monotremata and is remarkable for laying eggs like a bird
or reptile; -- called also {duckbill}, {platypus},
{mallangong}, {mullingong}, {tambreet}, and {water mole}.
{To make ducks and drakes}, to throw a flat stone obliquely,
so as to make it rebound repeatedly from the surface of
the water, raising a succession of jets