"dead duck" meaning in English

See dead duck in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: en-au-dead duck.ogg Forms: dead ducks [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun}} dead duck (plural dead ducks)
  1. (idiomatic) One who is in serious danger or trouble. Tags: idiomatic Categories (topical): Death Synonyms: dead meat Synonyms (person in serious danger): shark bait Translations (person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail): ser home mort (english: to be a dead man) (Catalan), tuhoon tuomittu hanke (Finnish), être fait comme un rat (French), skazany na porażkę (Polish), поко́йник (pokójnik) [masculine] (Russian), труп (trup) (note: of a person, dead man) [masculine] (Russian), до́хлый но́мер (dóxlyj nómer) (note: of a project) [masculine] (Russian), ser hombre muerto (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-dead_duck-en-noun-j~Nx~JC6 Disambiguation of Death: 15 85 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Russian translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 73 27 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 79 21 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 85 15 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 89 11 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 80 20 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 77 23 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 78 22 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 79 21 Disambiguation of 'person in serious danger': 96 4 Disambiguation of 'person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail': 63 37
  2. (idiomatic) A project that is doomed to failure from the start. Tags: idiomatic Categories (topical): Death
    Sense id: en-dead_duck-en-noun-jMHLuS0z Disambiguation of Death: 15 85
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: lame duck, sitting duck

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "dead ducks",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "dead duck (plural dead ducks)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "100 0",
      "word": "lame duck"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "100 0",
      "word": "sitting duck"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "73 27",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "79 21",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "85 15",
          "kind": "other",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "89 11",
          "kind": "other",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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        {
          "_dis": "80 20",
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "77 23",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "78 22",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "79 21",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Russian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "15 85",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Death",
          "orig": "en:Death",
          "parents": [
            "Body",
            "Life",
            "All topics",
            "Nature",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "She's a dead duck if she starts flirting with my boyfriend!",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "One who is in serious danger or trouble."
      ],
      "id": "en-dead_duck-en-noun-j~Nx~JC6",
      "links": [
        [
          "danger",
          "danger"
        ],
        [
          "trouble",
          "trouble"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) One who is in serious danger or trouble."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "dead meat"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 4",
          "sense": "person in serious danger",
          "word": "shark bait"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "63 37",
          "code": "ca",
          "english": "to be a dead man",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail",
          "word": "ser home mort"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "63 37",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail",
          "word": "tuhoon tuomittu hanke"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "63 37",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail",
          "word": "être fait comme un rat"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "63 37",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail",
          "word": "skazany na porażkę"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "63 37",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "pokójnik",
          "sense": "person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "поко́йник"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "63 37",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "note": "of a person, dead man",
          "roman": "trup",
          "sense": "person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "труп"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "63 37",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "note": "of a project",
          "roman": "dóxlyj nómer",
          "sense": "person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "до́хлый но́мер"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "63 37",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail",
          "word": "ser hombre muerto"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "15 85",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Death",
          "orig": "en:Death",
          "parents": [
            "Body",
            "Life",
            "All topics",
            "Nature",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The government decision meant that the proposed boycott of South African goods was a dead duck.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1962 June, “Letters to the Editor: Diesel suburban services in Bristol”, in Modern Railways, page 430:",
          "text": "The \"most important suburban line—to Clifton Down, Avonmouth Dock and Severn Beach\" has, I fear, been a dead duck for years. (It still exists in 2021)",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012 May 9, John Percy, “Birmingham City 2 Blackpool 2 (2–3 on agg): match report”, in The Daily Telegraph, London, archived from the original on 2016-04-08:",
          "text": "They may have finished 11 points behind West Ham and lost both league games, conceding eight goals, but the Tangerine dream remains alive. Holloway said: “We won’t get a bigger test than West Ham but we’ve got one chance. If you’d asked me last summer when I lost all those players I’d have said this was a dead duck, but we don’t lie down at this club.”",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A project that is doomed to failure from the start."
      ],
      "id": "en-dead_duck-en-noun-jMHLuS0z",
      "links": [
        [
          "doomed",
          "doomed"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A project that is doomed to failure from the start."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-dead duck.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c0/En-au-dead_duck.ogg/En-au-dead_duck.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/En-au-dead_duck.ogg"
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  "word": "dead duck"
}
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    "English nouns",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
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    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with Polish translations",
    "Terms with Russian translations",
    "en:Death"
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
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    {
      "word": "lame duck"
    },
    {
      "word": "sitting duck"
    }
  ],
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        "English terms with usage examples"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "She's a dead duck if she starts flirting with my boyfriend!",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
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        "One who is in serious danger or trouble."
      ],
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        "(idiomatic) One who is in serious danger or trouble."
      ],
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          "word": "dead meat"
        }
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          "ref": "1962 June, “Letters to the Editor: Diesel suburban services in Bristol”, in Modern Railways, page 430:",
          "text": "The \"most important suburban line—to Clifton Down, Avonmouth Dock and Severn Beach\" has, I fear, been a dead duck for years. (It still exists in 2021)",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012 May 9, John Percy, “Birmingham City 2 Blackpool 2 (2–3 on agg): match report”, in The Daily Telegraph, London, archived from the original on 2016-04-08:",
          "text": "They may have finished 11 points behind West Ham and lost both league games, conceding eight goals, but the Tangerine dream remains alive. Holloway said: “We won’t get a bigger test than West Ham but we’ve got one chance. If you’d asked me last summer when I lost all those players I’d have said this was a dead duck, but we don’t lie down at this club.”",
          "type": "quote"
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      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A project that is doomed to failure from the start."
      ],
      "links": [
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          "doomed",
          "doomed"
        ]
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A project that is doomed to failure from the start."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
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  "synonyms": [
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      "sense": "person in serious danger",
      "word": "shark bait"
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  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "english": "to be a dead man",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail",
      "word": "ser home mort"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail",
      "word": "tuhoon tuomittu hanke"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail",
      "word": "être fait comme un rat"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail",
      "word": "skazany na porażkę"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "pokójnik",
      "sense": "person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "поко́йник"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "note": "of a person, dead man",
      "roman": "trup",
      "sense": "person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "труп"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "note": "of a project",
      "roman": "dóxlyj nómer",
      "sense": "person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "до́хлый но́мер"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail",
      "word": "ser hombre muerto"
    }
  ],
  "word": "dead duck"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.