ducks

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of duck.

   A flock of ducks lifted off the water as we approached.

   The farmer raised ducks alongside his chickens and geese.

   Note

   The ordinary plural covers the birds and the other countable nouns spelled duck. These include a batsman's scores of zero and, in slang, the twos in a pack of cards. When duck means the meat it stays uncountable, so a menu offers roast duck, not ducks. The same spelling also serves the verb form (she ducks), and only the sentence tells noun from verb.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of duck.

   The boxer ducks beneath each swing and counters cleanly.

   Whenever the topic comes up, she ducks out of the conversation.

   Note

   Here the -s marks agreement: he, she or it ducks, while I, you, we and they duck. The verb works both with an object and without one: she ducks her head, the swimmer ducks under. Figuratively, someone ducks a responsibility they would rather avoid. The spelling it shares with the ordinary plural means a phrase like "she watches the ducks" can only be read from its grammar.

3. 3
   noundialectalBritishNorthern England

   An affectionate term used to address someone, common in British English.

   The landlady greeted every customer with a cheerful, "What'll it be, ducks?"

   Don't you worry about a thing, ducks, I'll sort it all out for you.

   Similarlove, dear, darling, pet

   Note

   Despite the final s, this is not a plural. The ending is an affectionate suffix added to duck in its sense of "darling", so a single person is called ducks. It is a form of address, set off by commas at the start or end of a sentence (Hello ducks, how are you today?) rather than used as subject or object. It belongs especially to Northern England.

4. 4
   nounslang

   In poker, a pair of twos held as a starting hand.

   He limped in with ducks, hoping to flop a set cheaply.

   She cracked his pocket aces when her ducks hit a third two.

   Similardeuces

   Note

   The name comes from the shape of the numeral: a 2 seen in profile looks like a duck, so a pair of them makes ducks. It is table talk among poker players for that pair as a starting hand. In rules, commentary or writing meant for general readers, a pair of twos is the neutral phrasing. A single two on its own is simply a duck.

5. 5
   noun

   Trousers of light duck cloth, a cotton or linen canvas, worn especially by sailors in hot climates.

   The officers appeared in crisp white ducks for the afternoon inspection.

   He kept his ducks clean despite weeks of work on the open deck.

   Note

   The trousers are named for the cloth they were cut from: duck, a tightly woven cotton fabric. Like trousers and breeches, the word is plural in form even for a single garment, so a sailor wears white ducks, never a duck. Charles Nordhoff's Nine Years a Sailor (1856) dresses a man in spotless white ducks, tight at the hips and hanging loosely over his pumps.

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