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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

rubber duck en · NOUN

Pronunciation

Etymology

From rubber + duck. The verb sense is derived from the noun one; see rubber duck debugging for more information on its etymology.

Meanings

  1. A toy, made from rubber or rubber-like plastic, shaped like a duck; usually a floating bathtub toy.
  2. (slang) An inflatable boat.
    • Around midday on Saturday, Warrnambool's main beach was evacuated when a volunteer from Warrnambool Surf Life Saving Club was thrown into the ocean from an inflatable rescue boat (IRB), often referred to as a rubber duck. 2023 October 2, Emily Bissland, “Warrnambool beach evacuated as surf lifesaver is 'catapulted' from rogue inflatable rescue boat”, in Australian Broadcasting Corporation:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
rubber ducks Number=Plur lexicographic

Deriveds

unsinkable rubber duck · rubber duck debugging · rubber ducky · rubber duckie · rubber ducking

Synonyms

rubber ducky · rubber duckie

Translations (26)

fr canard en caoutchouc (toy shaped like a duck) · de Quietscheente (toy shaped like a duck) · es patito de goma (toy shaped like a duck) · fi kumivene (inflatable boat) · it papera di gomma (toy shaped like a duck) · sv badanka (toy shaped like a duck) · hu gumikacsa (toy shaped like a duck) · pt patinho de borracha (toy shaped like a duck) · fi kumiankka (toy shaped like a duck) · de Gummiente (toy shaped like a duck) · cs gumová kachnička (toy shaped like a duck) · cmn 橡皮小鴨 /橡皮小鸭 (toy shaped like a duck) · no badeand (toy shaped like a duck) · tr plastik ördek (toy shaped like a duck) · ko 고무보트 (inflatable boat) · es patito de hule (toy shaped like a duck) · pl (gumowa) kaczuszka (toy shaped like a duck) · ca ànec de goma (toy shaped like a duck) · ko 고무오리 (toy shaped like a duck) · it paperella di gomma (toy shaped like a duck) · de Badeente (toy shaped like a duck) · tr banyo ördeği (toy shaped like a duck) · fr canard en plastique (toy shaped like a duck) · fi kylpyankka (toy shaped like a duck) · de Quietscheentchen (toy shaped like a duck) · ru рези́новая у́тка (toy shaped like a duck)

rubber duck en · VERB

Pronunciation

Etymology

From rubber + duck. The verb sense is derived from the noun one; see rubber duck debugging for more information on its etymology.

Meanings

  1. (transitive) To act as a sounding board for a programmer that is debugging their code, facilitating rubber duck debugging.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
rubber ducked Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
rubber ducked Tense=Past lexicographic
rubber ducking Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
rubber ducks Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic

Relateds

rubberduck · rubber-duck · ducking