gray duck

American  

noun

1. any of several ducks in which certain immature or female plumages are predominantly gray, as the gadwall and the pintail.

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Etymology

Origin of gray duck

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gray duck

And a moment later, looking very much like the old woman who went to market, with a dead gray duck dangling from her right arm, Marian returned in triumph.

From The Blue Envelope by Snell, Roy J. (Roy Judson)

Venison knocked over a gray duck on the lake with his rifle, and it was not long before we had four feet of pickerel and that self-same duck sprawled out on the hot stone, frying.

From The Puddleford Papers, Or Humors of the West by Riley, H. H.

"Well, take firm hold of the middle of the twig; we are ready to start," said the gray duck.

From Fifty Famous Fables by McMurry, Lida B. (Lida Brown)

Against them lay a gray duck, with snowy breast; then, deer-meat, and various kinds of fishes.

From Life at Puget Sound: With Sketches of Travel in Washington Territory, British Columbia, Oregon and California by Leighton, Caroline C.

"Take me with you, please," called a tortoise to a gray duck and a white duck that were flying over.

From Fifty Famous Fables by McMurry, Lida B. (Lida Brown)