Dictionary

all duck or no dinner en · X

Etymology

First use appears in Australian English c. 1895.

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) All or nothing.
   • "You know," said Bob, "they'll be pushing their luck getting across the tides of the Irish Sea. It's going to be all duck or no dinner for Captain Carlsen.” 2004, Bill Cullen, It's a Long Way from Penny Apples:
   • This is what might be termed an all-duck-or-no-dinner approach in which “a univocal meaning” containing no “ anti-liberationist❞ strain is sought. 2006, Mark Gray, Rhetoric and Social Justice in Isaiah, page 223:
   • The afternoon I moved out of home, my father said, 'You're all duck or no dinner', which still applies to me today, although I can sometimes moderate the extremes. 2020, Ross Fitzgerald, Fifty Years Sober: An Alcoholic's Journey:

Forms

Synonyms

no fish, no dinner

Translations (2)

it o tutto o niente (all or nothing) · fr c'est ça ou rien (all or nothing)