mallard

[ mal-erd ]

/ ˈmæl ərd /

noun, plural mal·lards, (especially collectively) mal·lard.

a common, almost cosmopolitan, wild duck, Anas platyrhynchos, from which the domestic ducks are descended.

Nearby words

mall, mall rat, mall walking, mallam, mallanders, mallard, mallarmé, mallarmé, stéphane, mallcore, malle, malle, louis

Origin of mallard

1275–1325; Middle English < Middle French, Old French mallart mallard drake, drake; see male, -ard

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for mallard

It launches with an amusing ruse: Bond makes his entrance swimming underwater, disguised by a mallard he wears as a hat.
Best James Bond Opening Sequences: ‘Goldeneye’ & More (VIDEO)|Kevin Fallon|October 4, 2012|DAILY BEAST
"This is our often abused but ever available 'cash,'" said Mr. Reid, holding up one of the crude bits of metal for Mallard to see.
The Red Miriok|Anna M. Barnes
"The Mallard barn dances are always so much fun," said Lloyd, lingering to give a final touch to her mother's toilet.
The Little Colonel's Knight Comes Riding|Annie Fellows Johnston
A man reduced to haunting Mallard's in his endeavour to escape the law must inevitably sink lower and lower.
The Heart of Unaga|Ridgwell Cullum

His speech was curiously refined and seemed utterly out of place in the office of Mallard's.
The Heart of Unaga|Ridgwell Cullum
Green Drake,—same as yellow except the wings, which must be from a Mallard's feather dyed a yellowish green.
The Teesdale Angler|R Lakeland

British Dictionary definitions for mallard

mallard

/ (ˈmælɑːd) /

noun plural -lard or -lards

a duck, Anas platyrhynchos, common over most of the N hemisphere, the male of which has a dark green head and reddish-brown breast: the ancestor of all domestic breeds of duck

Word Origin for mallard

C14: from Old French mallart, perhaps from maslart (unattested); see male, -ard

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for mallard

mallard

c.1300, "wild drake or duck," from Old French malart (12c.) or Medieval Latin mallardus, apparently from male, from Latin masculus (see male), in which case the original sense probably was not of a specific species but of any male wild duck, though the specific sense of "male of the wild duck" was not attested in English until early 14c.