musk duck

American  

noun

1. Muscovy duck.

2. an Australian duck, Biziura lobata, having a musky odor.

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musk duck British  

noun

1. another name for Muscovy duck

2. a duck, Biziura lobata, inhabiting swamps, lakes, and streams in Australia. The male has a leathery pouch beneath the bill and emits a musky odour

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Etymology

Origin of musk duck

First recorded in 1765–75

Example Sentences

Australian birds aren’t exactly known for their use of “fowl” language, but thanks to a musk duck named Ripper and the discovery of a 35-year-old recording, that might be about to change.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 7, 2021

Prof ten Cate had been researching vocal learning in birds when he came across a mysterious reference to a talking musk duck who could imitate other sounds, such as a slamming door.

From BBC • Sep. 7, 2021

During his research he stumbled across a recording from the summer of 1987, which appeared to capture the male musk duck swearing repeatedly and mimicking the sound of a closing door.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 7, 2021

Again more mullet—big fellows these—with yellow, prehensile mouths, which protrude and withdraw as they swim, and are fitted with a straining apparatus of bristles, like those on the mandibles of a musk duck.

From The Colonial Mortuary Bard; "'Reo," The Fisherman; and The Black Bream Of Australia 1901 by Becke, Louis

The men were very weak, having had nothing to eat for four days but some sow thistles and a musk duck, and the pull to Port Fairy was hard and long.

From The Book of the Bush Containing Many Truthful Sketches Of The Early Colonial Life Of Squatters, Whalers, Convicts, Diggers, And Others Who Left Their Native Land And Never Returned by Macfarlane, J.