duck and cover

verb

To duck under a surface and cover one's face with one's hands, as a means to protect oneself from flying debris etc.

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Meanings

verbduck and cover (third-person singular simple present ducks and covers, present participle ducking and covering, simple past and past participle ducked and covered)

present singular third person ducks and covers · participle present ducking and covering · participle past ducked and covered · past ducked and covered

  1. intransitiveTo duck under a surface and cover one's face with one's hands, as a means to protect oneself from flying debris etc.

    It's Christmas at ground zero / Just seconds left to go / I'll duck and cover / With my Yuletide lover / Underneath the mistletoe

    1986, "Weird Al" Yankovic, “Christmas at Ground Zero”, in Polka Party!
    1 more example

    The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has marked a profound shift of that dynamic, a lesser power expected to duck and cover quickly finding ways to impose costs on the American home front, as well.

    2026 September 23, David Wallace-Wells, “The Mistake That May Finally Get the Republican Base to Ditch Trump”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
Cite this entry
APA

duck and cover. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/duck%20and%20cover

MLA

“duck and cover.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/duck%20and%20cover. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “duck and cover,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/duck%20and%20cover.

Source: duck and cover on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.