"like water off a duck's back" meaning in English

See like water off a duck's back in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Prepositional phrase

Audio: En-au-like water off a duck's back.ogg [Australia]
Head templates: {{head|en|prepositional phrase|head=like water off a duck's back}} like water off a duck's back, {{en-PP|head=like water off a duck's back}} like water off a duck's back
  1. (simile, colloquial, idiomatic) Without immediate or lasting effects. Tags: colloquial, idiomatic Related terms: water off a duck's back, like a duck takes to water, Teflon [adjective] Translations (without effects; in a manner having no effect): soos water op 'n eend se rug (Afrikaans), jedním uchem tam, druhým ven (Czech), eins og að skvetta vatni á gæs (Icelandic), jak po kaczce (Polish), jak woda po gęsi (Polish), как с гу́ся вода́ (kak s gúsja vodá) (Russian), som vatten på en gås (Swedish), như nước đổ đầu vịt (Vietnamese), như nước đổ lá khoai (Vietnamese), như nước đổ lá môn (Vietnamese)
    Sense id: en-like_water_off_a_duck's_back-en-prep_phrase-UoJOsE5- Categories (other): English similes

Download JSON data for like water off a duck's back meaning in English (3.2kB)

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        "2": "prepositional phrase",
        "head": "like water off a duck's back"
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      "name": "head"
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    {
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  "lang_code": "en",
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          "name": "English similes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1919, Lucy Maud Montgomery, chapter 18, in Rainbow Valley",
          "text": "\"She combs me down with her tongue sometimes though, but that just slips off me like water off a duck's back.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009 January 2, Jan Espeut, “The honeymoon is over”, in Jamaica Gleaner, retrieved 2009-01-20",
          "text": "Scandal after scandal would break, but it would be like water off a duck's back; no heads rolled, and no one seemed particularly perturbed.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
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      "glosses": [
        "Without immediate or lasting effects."
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      "id": "en-like_water_off_a_duck's_back-en-prep_phrase-UoJOsE5-",
      "links": [
        [
          "immediate",
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      "qualifier": "simile",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(simile, colloquial, idiomatic) Without immediate or lasting effects."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "water off a duck's back"
        },
        {
          "word": "like a duck takes to water"
        },
        {
          "tags": [
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          ],
          "word": "Teflon"
        }
      ],
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        {
          "code": "af",
          "lang": "Afrikaans",
          "sense": "without effects; in a manner having no effect",
          "word": "soos water op 'n eend se rug"
        },
        {
          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "sense": "without effects; in a manner having no effect",
          "word": "jedním uchem tam, druhým ven"
        },
        {
          "code": "is",
          "lang": "Icelandic",
          "sense": "without effects; in a manner having no effect",
          "word": "eins og að skvetta vatni á gæs"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "without effects; in a manner having no effect",
          "word": "jak po kaczce"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "without effects; in a manner having no effect",
          "word": "jak woda po gęsi"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "kak s gúsja vodá",
          "sense": "without effects; in a manner having no effect",
          "word": "как с гу́ся вода́"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "without effects; in a manner having no effect",
          "word": "som vatten på en gås"
        },
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          "code": "vi",
          "lang": "Vietnamese",
          "sense": "without effects; in a manner having no effect",
          "word": "như nước đổ đầu vịt"
        },
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          "code": "vi",
          "lang": "Vietnamese",
          "sense": "without effects; in a manner having no effect",
          "word": "như nước đổ lá khoai"
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          "lang": "Vietnamese",
          "sense": "without effects; in a manner having no effect",
          "word": "như nước đổ lá môn"
        }
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      "tags": [
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  "word": "like water off a duck's back"
}
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  "head_templates": [
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        "2": "prepositional phrase",
        "head": "like water off a duck's back"
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      "expansion": "like water off a duck's back",
      "name": "head"
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      "word": "Teflon"
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        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
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        {
          "ref": "1919, Lucy Maud Montgomery, chapter 18, in Rainbow Valley",
          "text": "\"She combs me down with her tongue sometimes though, but that just slips off me like water off a duck's back.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009 January 2, Jan Espeut, “The honeymoon is over”, in Jamaica Gleaner, retrieved 2009-01-20",
          "text": "Scandal after scandal would break, but it would be like water off a duck's back; no heads rolled, and no one seemed particularly perturbed.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
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        "Without immediate or lasting effects."
      ],
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          "lasting"
        ],
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      ],
      "qualifier": "simile",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(simile, colloquial, idiomatic) Without immediate or lasting effects."
      ],
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        "idiomatic"
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "af",
      "lang": "Afrikaans",
      "sense": "without effects; in a manner having no effect",
      "word": "soos water op 'n eend se rug"
    },
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "without effects; in a manner having no effect",
      "word": "jedním uchem tam, druhým ven"
    },
    {
      "code": "is",
      "lang": "Icelandic",
      "sense": "without effects; in a manner having no effect",
      "word": "eins og að skvetta vatni á gæs"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "without effects; in a manner having no effect",
      "word": "jak po kaczce"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "without effects; in a manner having no effect",
      "word": "jak woda po gęsi"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "kak s gúsja vodá",
      "sense": "without effects; in a manner having no effect",
      "word": "как с гу́ся вода́"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "without effects; in a manner having no effect",
      "word": "som vatten på en gås"
    },
    {
      "code": "vi",
      "lang": "Vietnamese",
      "sense": "without effects; in a manner having no effect",
      "word": "như nước đổ đầu vịt"
    },
    {
      "code": "vi",
      "lang": "Vietnamese",
      "sense": "without effects; in a manner having no effect",
      "word": "như nước đổ lá khoai"
    },
    {
      "code": "vi",
      "lang": "Vietnamese",
      "sense": "without effects; in a manner having no effect",
      "word": "như nước đổ lá môn"
    }
  ],
  "word": "like water off a duck's back"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-01 using wiktextract (fc4f0c7 and c937495). 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.

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