Ducks
//dʌks// noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 plural of duck form-of, plural
- 2 A pair of twos. slang
- 3 Dear (used as a pet name). British, Northern-England
"Hello ducks, how are you today?"
- 4 The light trousers worn by sailors in hot climates.
"His spotless white ducks set tight about the hips, and hang loosely at the bottom, just allowing the tips of a pair of patent-leather pumps to peep out from beneath their ample breadth."
Verb
- 1 third-person singular simple present indicative of duck form-of, indicative, present, singular, third-person
Example
More examples"Ducks were swimming about on the pond."
Etymology
Etymology 1
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Etymology 2
From the shape of the numeral 2, looking like the profile of a duck.
Etymology 3
From duck (“darling”) + -s (hypocoristic suffix).
Etymology 4
From duck (“tightly woven cotton fabric”).
Related phrases
More for "ducks"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.