"dead duck" meaning in English

See dead duck in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: en-au-dead duck.ogg [Australia] 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 (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: 90 10 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with topic categories using raw markup, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 72 28 Disambiguation of English entries with topic categories using raw markup: 68 32 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 71 29 Disambiguation of 'person in serious danger': 96 4 Disambiguation of 'person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail': 62 38
  2. (idiomatic) A project that is doomed to failure from the start. Tags: idiomatic
    Sense id: en-dead_duck-en-noun-jMHLuS0z
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: sitting duck

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for dead duck meaning in English (4.5kB)

{
  "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": "0 0",
      "word": "sitting duck"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "72 28",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "68 32",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with topic categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "71 29",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "90 10",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Death",
          "orig": "en:Death",
          "parents": [
            "Body",
            "Life",
            "Human",
            "Nature",
            "All topics",
            "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": [
        {
          "_dis1": "96 4",
          "sense": "person in serious danger",
          "word": "shark bait"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "62 38",
          "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": "62 38",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail",
          "word": "tuhoon tuomittu hanke"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "62 38",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail",
          "word": "être fait comme un rat"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "62 38",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail",
          "word": "skazany na porażkę"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "62 38",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "pokójnik",
          "sense": "person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "поко́йник"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "62 38",
          "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": "62 38",
          "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": "62 38",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail",
          "word": "ser hombre muerto"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "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",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "dead duck"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
    "en:Death"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "dead ducks",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
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  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "dead duck (plural dead ducks)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "sitting duck"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
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        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "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."
      ],
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          "danger",
          "danger"
        ],
        [
          "trouble",
          "trouble"
        ]
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) One who is in serious danger or trouble."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
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      "categories": [
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      "examples": [
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          "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": "quotation"
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        {
          "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": "quotation"
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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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    }
  ],
  "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",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
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      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "person in serious danger",
      "word": "shark bait"
    }
  ],
  "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"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). 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.