duck on a rock

American  

noun

1. a children's game in which one player stands guard over a stone on a rock while the other players attempt to knock it off by throwing another stone in turn: if the thrower is tagged by the guard while trying to recover the stone, the two players then change positions.

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Example Sentences

He could play at duck on a rock with the boys.

From Literature

He could play games with the boys in the courtyard, shooting at a mark, hide-and-go-seek, and duck on a rock.

From Literature

Among the gems: an ancient ball found in the attic of Naismith’s office in Kansas; a model of the original basketball court; and the “Naismith Stone,” a boulder that Naismith used to play “Duck on a Rock” — a childhood game that is said to have inspired the arcing basketball shot.

From Washington Post

But I’d argue that James has an unusually intimate relationship with basketball — a sport that is itself, as James is, cobbled together out of irreconcilable parts: James Naismith invented it, out of desperation, with a peach basket and a football and the rules of an old children’s game called Duck on a Rock.

From New York Times

The urchins, now grown into babbitts or clowns or bigwigs, sang their geography, etched Spencerian parabolas into their copy books, played "duck on a rock" at recess, spelled out the stories in McGuffey's; then they walked home on dusty roads, swinging their book straps and talking to each other, stopping to cut their initials into fence rails or the bark of a tree.

From Time Magazine Archive