out for a duck

phrase

Having batted no hits for the entire game.

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Meanings

phrase
  1. ball gamesHaving batted no hits for the entire game.

    Shaw's five victims included Australian skipper, David Gregory, out for a duck.

    2014, Philip Barker, Lord's Firsts: 200 Years of Making History at Lord’s Cricket Ground, page 98
    2 more examples

    The inevitable happened - I was out for a duck and was furious when I got back to the dressing room.

    2012, Andrew Flintoff, Ashes to Ashes: One Test After Another

    The batsman out first ball is out for a duck, no matter how fervently and frequently he replays the awful moment in his mind's eye; a missed catch is a drop, however intricate and extenuating the context; and wickets claimed in the post-match bar do not count, even if the bowler believes them "deserved".

    2013, Robert Winder, The Little Wonder: The Remarkable History of Wisden

Origin

From the use of duck to mean a batsman's score of 0 in cricket.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

Source: out for a duck on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.