dead duck en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Meanings
-
(idiomatic) One who is in serious danger or trouble.
She's a dead duck if she starts flirting with my boyfriend!
-
(idiomatic) A project that is doomed to failure from the start.
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)
1962 June, “Letters to the Editor: Diesel suburban services in Bristol”, in Modern Railways, page 430:The government decision meant that the proposed boycott of South African goods was a dead duck.
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.”
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 08 Apr 2016:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| dead ducks | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Relateds
Synonyms
dead meat · shark bait (person in serious danger)
Translations (8)
ca home mort (person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail) · fr être fait comme un rat (person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail) · pl osoba skazana na porażkę (person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail) · es hombre muerto (person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail) · ru поко́йник (person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail) · ru труп (person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail) · fi tuhoon tuomittu hanke (person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail) · ru до́хлый но́мер (person or project that is in serious trouble or doomed to fail)