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Ducking   /dˈəkɪŋ/   Listen
verb
Duck  v. t.  (past & past part. ducked; pres. part. ducking)  
1.
To thrust or plunge under water or other liquid and suddenly withdraw. "Adams, after ducking the squire twice or thrice, leaped out of the tub."
2.
To plunge the head of under water, immediately withdrawing it; as, duck the boy.
3.
To bow; to bob down; to move quickly with a downward motion. " Will duck his head aside."


Duck  v. i.  
1.
To go under the surface of water and immediately reappear; to dive; to plunge the head in water or other liquid; to dip. "In Tiber ducking thrice by break of day."
2.
To drop the head or person suddenly; to bow. "The learned pate Ducks to the golden fool."


Ducking  v.  N. & a., from Duck, v. t. & i.
Ducking stool, a stool or chair in which common scolds were formerly tied, and plunged into water, as a punishment. See Cucking stool. The practice of ducking began in the latter part of the 15th century, and prevailed until the early part of the 18th, and occasionally as late as the 19th century.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Ducking" Quotes from Famous Books



... make any mistake about that, and you'd never get a look-in, only, sore as the mob is on the Gray Seal, it ain't healthy for any guy around these parts to get the reputation of being a snitch, no matter who he snitches on. Bump him off—sure! Snitching—well, you get the idea, eh? I'm ducking that too. ...
— The Adventures of Jimmie Dale • Frank L. Packard
... late or leet the witches, as the phrase ran. This custom was practised at Longridge Fell in the early part of the nineteenth century.[628] In Northumberland on Hallowe'en omens of marriage were drawn from nuts thrown into the fire; and the sports of ducking for apples and biting at a revolving apple and lighted candle were also practised on that evening.[629] The equivalent of the Hallowe'en bonfires is reported also from France. We are told that in the department of Deux-Sevres, which forms part of the old province of Poitou, young ...
— Balder The Beautiful, Vol. I. • Sir James George Frazer
... "I must get into St. Albans, and see whether there is any fresh information to hand. If possible, I should like to run over to Shefford, for I want to look at the place where I had my ducking, and recover the piece of cord with which that almighty scoundrel secured me. Then there's the inquest at Towcester at twelve, and sometime to-day I must put in an appearance at head-quarters to hand in my report. Perhaps I had better train from ...
— The Motor Pirate • George Sidney Paternoster
... personal daring. His captors marched him off between them till they came to a narrow lane where the horsemen could walk only in single file—three in front of him and one behind. He determined to make a bid for liberty. Ducking under the rear horse he seized his rifle, shot the Uhlan, and disappeared in the darkness. For days he lay concealed, and on one occasion German searchers entered the room in which he was hidden, yet ...
— Tommy Atkins at War - As Told in His Own Letters • James Alexander Kilpatrick
... over the good old days of the ducking-stool, poured himself carefully a highball that was brown. Silence reigned. The light fell upon the head and shoulders of Crane ...
— Defenders of Democracy • The Militia of Mercy


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