Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A young duck.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A young duck.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A young or little duck.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A young duck.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun young duck
  • noun flesh of a young domestic duck

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Late Middle English duckling, dookelyng ("duckling"), from duk, doke ("duck") + -ling.

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Examples

  • Their networks and the cousins of syndication and cable run show after show where some ugly duckling is turned into a swan courtesy of the plastic surgeon and personal trainer.

    “How indeed.” | PopPolitics.com 2004

  • Their networks and the cousins of syndication and cable run show after show where some ugly duckling is turned into a swan courtesy of the plastic surgeon and personal trainer.

    “How indeed.” | PopPolitics.com 2004

  • Their networks and the cousins of syndication and cable run show after show where some ugly duckling is turned into a swan courtesy of the plastic surgeon and personal trainer.

    Print - “How indeed.” | PopPolitics.com 2004

  • The duckling is always on the menu, along with potato-crusted Lake Superior whitefish, the fish to eat in these parts.

    Five Lakes Grill 2002

  • Nick, that comment about your hair resembling that of a duckling was a compliment to your haircut -- it's adorable.

    PORN BLOGS; LONG KNIVES FOR INSURANCE EXECS; DREAMS; PHOTOS; more N A 2009

  • If the positions of farmer and kills are interchanged, the sentence reads kills the farmer the duckling, which is most naturally interpreted as an unusual but not unintelligible mode of asking the question, does the farmer kill the duckling?

    Chapter 5. Form in Language: Grammatical Concepts 1921

  • Long Island duckling aka Pekin duck, a large white breed raised for meat in this country, can be found frozen in many supermarkets.

    chicagotribune.com - News 2010

  • Long Island duckling aka Pekin duck, a large white breed raised for meat in this country, can be found frozen in many supermarkets.

    chicagotribune.com - News 2010

  • However, the reason I love Hans Christian Andersen's The Ugly Duckling story so much is the fact that the duckling was a swan all along.

    unknown title 2009

  • a duckling or a gosling for dinner; that there were two quite ready -- the brown and yellow duckling, that is the last to leave the water at night, and the white gosling that never knows his own 'ouse.

    The Diary of a Goose Girl Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin 1889

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