dead duck

plural dead ducks

1. idiomaticOne who is in serious danger or trouble.

   She's a dead duck if she starts flirting with my boyfriend!

   Synonyms: dead meat, shark bait

2. idiomaticA project that is doomed to failure from the start.

   The government decision meant that the proposed boycott of South African goods was a dead duck.

   2 more examples

   The "most important suburban line—to Clifton Down, Avonmouth Dock and Severn Beach" has, I fear, been a dead duck for years. (It still exists in 2021)

   1962 June, “Letters to the Editor: Diesel suburban services in Bristol”, in Modern Railways, page 430

   They may have finished 11 points behind West Ham and lost both league games, conceding eight goals, but the Tangerine dream remains alive. Holloway said: “We won’t get a bigger test than West Ham but we’ve got one chance. If you’d asked me last summer when I lost all those players I’d have said this was a dead duck, but we don’t lie down at this club.”

   2012 May 9, John Percy, “Birmingham City 2 Blackpool 2 (2–3 on agg): match report”, in The Daily Telegraph, London, archived from the original on 08 Apr 2016