different between duck vs honker

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: d?k, IPA^(key): /d?k/
• Rhymes: -?k

Etymology 1

From Middle English *dukken, from Old English *ducan, *duccan (“to duck”). Related to Scots dulk (“to duck”), Middle Dutch ducken (“to duck”), Low German ducken (“to duck”), German ducken (“to duck”), Danish dukke, dykke (“to dive”); a secondary verb akin to Middle English duken, douken (“to duck, plunge under water, submerge”), from Old English *d?can (“to dip, dive, duck”), from Proto-Germanic *d?kan? (“to dip, dive, bend down, stoop, duck”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *d?ewb- (“deep, hollow”) (whence Proto-Germanic *d?ban? (“to dive”)). Related also to Scots dook, douk (“to bathe, drench, soak, baptise”), West Frisian dûke (“to plunge, dive”), Dutch duiken (“to dive, plunge, duck”), Low German duken (“to duck, dive, stoop”), German tauchen (“to dive, plunge, immerse, duck”), Swedish dyka (“to dive, submerge”).

Verb

duck (third-person singular simple present ducks, present participle ducking, simple past and past participle ducked)

1. (intransitive) To quickly lower the head or body in order to prevent it from being struck by something.

2. (transitive) To quickly lower (the head) in order to prevent it from being struck by something.
   • c. 1729, Jonathan Swift, To Dr. Delany on the Libels Written Against Him

     As some raw youth in country bred,
     To arms by thirst of honour led,
     When at a skirmish first he hears
     The bullets whistling round his ears,
     Will duck his head aside

3. (transitive) To lower (something) into water; to thrust or plunge under liquid and suddenly withdraw.
   • 1742, Henry Fielding, Joseph Andrews

     Adams, after ducking the squire twice or thrice, leaped out of the tub.

4. (intransitive) To go under the surface of water and immediately reappear; to plunge one's head into water or other liquid.

   • In Tiber ducking thrice by break of day.

5. (intransitive) To bow.
   • c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens

     The learned pate / Ducks to the golden fool.

6. (transitive) To evade doing something.
7. (transitive) To lower the volume of (a sound) so that other sounds in the mix can be heard more clearly.
8. (intransitive) To enter a place for a short moment.

Synonyms

• (to lower the head): duck down
• (to lower into the water): dip, dunk
• (to lower in order to prevent it from being struck by something): dip

Coordinate terms

• (to lower the head or body to prevent it from being struck): hit the deck

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English doke, ducke, dukke, dokke, douke, duke, from Old English duce, d?ce (“duck”, literally “dipper, diver, ducker”), from Old English *d?can (“to dip, dive, duck”), from Proto-Germanic *d?kan? (“to dive, bend down”). See verb above. Cognate with Scots duik, duke, dook (“duck”), Danish dukand, dykand (“sea-duck”), Swedish dykfågel (“a diver, diving bird, plungeon”), Middle Dutch duycker (“diver”), Low German düker (“diver”).

Alternative forms

• ducke (obsolete)

Noun

duck (countable and uncountable, plural ducks)

1. An aquatic bird of the family Anatidae, having a flat bill and webbed feet.
2. Specifically, an adult female duck; contrasted with drake and with duckling.
3. (uncountable) The flesh of a duck used as food.
4. (cricket) A batsman's score of zero after getting out. (short for duck's egg, since the digit "0" is round like an egg.)
5. (slang) A playing card with the rank of two.
6. A partly-flooded cave passage with limited air space.
7. A building intentionally constructed in the shape of an everyday object to which it is related.

   A luncheonette in the shape of a coffee cup is particularly conspicuous, as is intended of an architectural duck or folly.

   • 2007, Cynthia Blair, "It Happened on Long Island: 1988—Suffolk County Adopts the Big Duck," Newsday, 21 Feb.:

     The Big Duck has influenced the world of architecture; any building that is shaped like its product is called a ‘duck’.

8. A marble to be shot at with another marble (the shooter) in children's games.
9. (US) A cairn used to mark a trail.
10. One of the weights used to hold a spline in place for the purpose of drawing a curve.
11. (finance, slang, dated) Synonym of lame duck (“one who cannot fulfil their contracts”)
12. (medicine) A long-necked medical urinal for men.

Hyponyms

• (bird): Anas platyrhynchos (domesticus), Mallard-derived domestic breeds, including Pekin, Rouen, Campbell, Call, Runner; Cairina moschata, Muscovy duck

Derived terms

Translations

See also

References

• Weisenberg, Michael (2000) The Official Dictionary of Poker. MGI/Mike Caro University. ?ISBN

Etymology 3

From Dutch doek, from Middle Dutch doeck, doec (“linen cloth”), from Old Dutch *d?c, from Proto-West Germanic *d?k, from Proto-Germanic *d?kaz (“cloth, rag”), from Proto-Indo-European *dw?g-, *dw?k-. Cognate with German Tuch (“cloth”), Swedish duk (“cloth, canvas”), Icelandic dúkur (“cloth, fabric”). Doublet of doek.

Alternative forms

• dook, doock (Scotland)

Noun

duck (plural ducks)

2. A tightly-woven cotton fabric used as sailcloth.
   • 1912, Katherine Mansfield, "The Woman At The Store", from Selected Short Stories:

     He was dressed in a Jaeger vest—a pair of blue duck trousers, fastened round the waist with a plaited leather belt.

3. (in the plural) Trousers made of such material.
   • 1918, Rebecca West, The Return of the Soldier, Virago 2014, page 56:

     And they would go up and find old Allington, in white ducks, standing in the fringe of long grasses and cow-parsley on the other edge of the island […].

   • 1954, Doris Lessing, A Proper Marriage, HarperPerennial 1995, p. 74:

     A native servant emerged, anonymous in his white ducks and red fez, to say My Player was wanted on the telephone.

Derived terms

• duck tape

Translations

Etymology 4

Potteries dialect, Black Country dialect and dialects of the former territory of Mercia (central England). Compare Danish dukke (“doll”), Swedish docka (“baby; doll”), dialectal English doxy (“sweetheart”).

Noun

duck (plural ducks)

1. A term of endearment; pet; darling.

   And hold-fast is the only dog, my duck (William Shakespeare - The Life of King Henry the Fifth, Act 2, Scene 3).

2. (Midlands) Dear, mate (informal way of addressing a friend or stranger).

   Ay up duck, ow'a'tha?

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:friend

Derived terms

• ay up me duck
• duckie

References

• duck at OneLook Dictionary Search
• Birks, Steve (2005-01-26) , “The history of the Potteries dialect”, in BBC?^[2], retrieved 2014-11-19

German

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?k

Verb

duck

1. singular imperative of ducken

English

Etymology

honk +? -er

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -??k?(r)

Noun

honker (plural honkers)

1. One who honks.
2. (informal) A large nose.
3. (informal) A wild goose.
4. (slang, chiefly in the plural) A woman's breast.
5. (slang) Anything impressively large; a whopper.

   I caught a real honker of a fish.

6. (slang) A loud burst of flatulence.
   • 2016, Steve Vernon, Flash Virus Omnibus: The First Five Episodes (page 39)

     I would have given a million dollars to fart a good loud juicy honker, right then and there […]

7. (slang) The telephone.
   • 1991, Stephen King, Needful Things

     He supposed Pangborn was around someplace, and pretty soon old Bill Fullerton would get him on the honker and tell him who was back in town. Then Pangborn would find him and ask him what he thought he was doing here.

   • 2001, Paul M. Levitt, Chin Music: A Novel of the Jazz Age (page 283)

     I kidded him about the length of the call, and he said that he'd also been on the honker with A.R. […]

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:nose

Further reading

• honker at OneLook Dictionary Search