duck [OE] The name of the waterfowl, and duck meaning ‘to lower the head and body quickly’ go back to the same ancient root. The earliest sense of the latter was ‘to suddenly go underwater and emerge, to dive’, which connects directly with the behaviour of ducks—a duck is a bird that ‘ducks’ underwater. Stock exchange traders in the mid 18th century originally used the expression lame duck to describe a person or company unable to pay their debts. The idea behind it may be that a lame duck could easily fall victim to a hunter or predator: in the case of a debtor, he would be at the mercy of his creditors. Since the 19th century lame duck has also described a politician or government in their final period of office, after their successor has been elected. In cricket a duck is a batsman’s score of nought. This is short for duck’s egg [M19th], used for the figure 0 because of its similar outline. To break your duck is to score the first run of your innings. See also goose, love.