Tra từ ducks - Từ điển Oxford Advanced Learner 8th

duck [duck ducks ducked ducking] noun, verb BrE [dʌk] NAmE [dʌk]
noun

1. (pl. ducksor duck)countable a common bird that lives on or near water and has short legs, ↑webbed feet (= feet with thin pieces of skin between the toes) and a wide beak. There are many types of duck, some of which are kept for their meat or eggs
•wild ducks
•duck eggs
•Every afternoon they went to the park to feed the ducks.
•Ducks were quacking noisily on the lake.
2. countable a female duck
compare ↑drake
3. uncountable meat from a duck
•roast duck with orange sauce
4. (also duckie, ducks, ducky)countable, usually singular (BrE, informal)a friendly way of addressing sb
•Anything else, duck?
compare ↑dear, ↑love
5. a ducksingular (in ↑cricket)a batsman's score of zero
•He was out for a duck.
see also ↑lame duck, ↑sitting duck
more at dead duck at ↑dead _adj., (like) water off a duck's back at ↑water _n.

Word Origin:
n. senses 1 to 3 Old English duce Germanic ↑duck ‘diving bird’ v. Middle English Germanic Dutch duiken German tauchen ‘dive, dip, plunge’ ↑duckn. sense 5 mid 19th cent. duck's egg n. sense 4 late 16th cent. ↑duck

Example Bank:
•A flock of ducks bobbed near the shore.
•A rubber duck floated in the bath.
•In a large saucepan, melt the duck fat.
•Slice the duck breast and serve.
•Some species of duck dive for food, while others dabble for plants and insects near the surface.
•The ducks paddled furiously to grab the bread.
Idioms: ↑get your ducks in a row ▪ ↑like a duck to water

verb
1. intransitive, transitive to move your head or body downwards to avoid being hit or seen
•He had to duck as he came through the door.
•~ (down) (behind/under sth) We ducked down behind the wall so they wouldn't see us.
•He ducked under the overhanging branches.
•He just managed to duck out of sight.
•~ sth She ducked her head and got into the car.
2. transitive ~ sth to avoid sth by moving your head or body out of the way
Syn: ↑dodge
•He ducked the first few blows then started to fight back.
3. intransitive + adv./prep. to move somewhere quickly, especially in order to avoid being seen
•She ducked into the adjoining room as we came in.
4. intransitive, transitive (rather informal)to avoid a difficult or unpleasant duty or responsibility
•~ out of sth It's his turn to cook dinner, but I bet he'll try to duck out of it.
•~ sth The government is ducking the issue.
5. (NAmE also dunk)transitive ~ sb to push sb underwater and hold them there for a short time
•The kids were ducking each other in the pool.
Verb forms:

Word Origin:
n. senses 1 to 3 Old English duce Germanic ↑duck ‘diving bird’ v. Middle English Germanic Dutch duiken German tauchen ‘dive, dip, plunge’ ↑duckn. sense 5 mid 19th cent. duck's egg n. sense 4 late 16th cent. ↑duck

Example Bank:
•He had to duck through the low doorway.
•He just managed to duck out of sight.
•I ducked down behind the table.
•She ducked under the railings and ran towards him.
•He ducked the first few blows, then started to fight back.
•It's his turn to cook dinner, but I bet he'll try to duck out of it.
•We ducked down behind the wall.

See also: ↑duckie ▪ ↑ducky ▪ ↑dunk