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quack

KWAK/kwæk/

Pluralquacks

Verbquacks, quacking, quacked

10 meanings of quack

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  1. 1
    nouncountable
    The short, loud sound that a duck makes.

    Like a little horn sound, but made by a bird.

    We heard a loud quack coming from the pond.

    The ducklings answered their mother with tiny quacks.

    Note
  2. 2
    verbintransitive
    To make the short, loud sound that a duck makes.

    Like a dog barking, but it is the noise a duck makes.

    The ducks quack loudly whenever someone brings bread.

    A toy duck quacks when you squeeze it.

    Note
  3. 3
    nounderogatorycountable
    A person who pretends to be a doctor to cheat sick people out of money.

    Like someone selling fake medicine that does nothing at all.

    The so-called doctor turned out to be a quack who sold useless pills.

    Desperate patients were easy targets for the quack and his fake cures.

    Similarcharlatan, fraud, impostor, fake, swindler

    Note
  4. 4
    adjective
    Sold as a cure but really having no power to heal.

    Like a medicine bottle that is really just colored water.

    The shelves were full of quack remedies that did nothing.

    He wasted his savings on a quack cure for baldness.

    Similarfake, bogus, fraudulent, sham, phony

    Oppositegenuine, legitimate, proven

    Note
  5. 5
    nounderogatoryfigurativelycountable
    A person in any job who pretends to have skills they do not really have.

    Like someone pretending to be a teacher who has never studied.

    That financial advisor was a quack who knew nothing about money.

    Critics dismissed the self-styled expert as a quack.

    Similarcharlatan, fraud, fake, impostor, phony

    Note
  6. 6
    interjection
    Used to copy the sound a duck makes.

    Like saying "woof" for a dog's bark.

    Quack! went the toy as the baby pressed it.

    The children shouted "Quack, quack!" at the passing ducks.

  7. 7
    nounslangderogatoryhumorouscountable
    A joking, slightly rude way to refer to a doctor.

    Like calling a police officer a "cop" instead of their real title.

    I'm off to see the quack about my bad knee.

    Better let the quack take a look at that nasty cough.

    Similardoctor, doc, medic

    Note
  8. 8
    verbintransitive
    To work as a fake doctor, selling treatments that do not work.

    Like pretending to be a doctor to trick people for money.

    He chose to quack his way across the frontier towns, selling fake cures.

    Swindlers quack for profit, preying on people who are sick and afraid.

    Note
  9. 9
    verbintransitive
    Of a young queen bee, to make a high-pitched sound at certain stages of growing.

    Like a tiny squeak coming from inside a closed box.

    Young queen bees quack inside the hive before they come out.

    You can hear a queen quack faintly through the honeycomb.

    Note

Less common meaning

  1. 10
    verbobsolete
    To boast loudly and make empty claims about oneself.

    Like someone bragging loudly about things they cannot really do.

    The peddler would quack about his grand schemes to anyone who listened.

    Seek out for Plants with Signatures To Quack of Universal Cures
    1684, Samuel Butler, HudibrasHere, quack means to boast loudly and make empty claims.

    Similarboast

    Note

Practice

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Origins

Meanings 1–2, 6, 9

From Middle English quacken, meaning to make a noise like a duck. The sound of the word imitates the noise itself.

Meanings 3–5, 7–8, 10

A short form of "quacksalver," a word of Dutch origin.