Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A wild duck (Anas platyrhynchos) found almost worldwide, the male of which has a green head and neck. Most domestic ducks descend from the mallard.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The wild drake; the male of the common wild duck.
- noun Hence The common wild duck, Anas boscas, the feral stock whence the domestic duck in all its varieties has descended, and the typical representative of the family Anatidœ and subfamily Anatinœ. See
duck .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) A drake; the male of
Anas boschas . - noun (Zoöl.) A large wild duck (
Anas boschas ) inhabiting both America and Europe. The domestic duck has descended from this species. Called alsogreenhead .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A common and widespread
dabbling duck ,Anas platyrhynchos , whose male has a distinctive dark green head.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun wild dabbling duck from which domestic ducks are descended; widely distributed
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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When I was a kid (forty years ago) I literally picked up a hen and drake mallard from a drainage ditch in then remote Western Montana.
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When I was a kid (forty years ago) I literally picked up a hen and drake mallard from a drainage ditch in then remote Western Montana.
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In the hand The drake mallard is the most readily recognized duck, but the hen can be easily confused with the black duck, gadwall, and mottled duck.
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In the hand The drake mallard is the most readily recognized duck, but the hen can be easily confused with the black duck, gadwall, and mottled duck.
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Being called a mallard should be enough to embarrass any thinking human.
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A mallard is a plain silly fat Amsterdam duck sitting on the canal.
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So far as I am aware the mallard is the only wild duck that has been bred in sufficient numbers to slaughter for the markets.
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The male of the wild dock is called a mallard; and the young ones are called flappers.
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The male of the wild dock is called a mallard; and the young ones are called flappers.
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Tak a mallard and pul hym drye and swyng over the fyre draw hym but lat hym touche no water and hew hym in gobettys and do hym in a pot of clene water boyle hem wel and tak onyons and boyle and bred and pepyr and grynd togedere and draw thorw a cloth temper wyth wyn and boyle yt and serve yt forth.
The Forme of Cury A Roll of Ancient English Cookery Compiled, about A.D. 1390
bilby commented on the word mallard
*shove*
May 24, 2009