take to something like a duck to water






take to something like a duck to water

take to something very readily

1960 - C. Day Lewis - Buried Day - I had taken to vice like a duck to water, but it ran off me like water from a duck's back.


RELATED IDIOMS :


break your duck

score the first run of your innings – Cricket

make your first score or achieve a particular feat for the first time – British




duck and dive

use your ingenuity to deal with or evade a situation

1998 - New Scientist - You don't last for over 100 million years without some capacity to duck and dive.




fine weather for ducks

wet, rainy weather, humorous




get your ducks in a row = have your ducks in a row

get or have your facts straight

get or have everything organized - North American informal

1996 - Brew Your Own - You really want to have all your ducks in a row before the meeting.




like a dying duck in a thunderstorm

having a dejected or hopeless expression – Informal

The miserable demeanour of ducks during thunder has been proverbial since the late 18th century.

1933 - Agatha Christie - Lord Edgware Dies - You did look for all the world like a dying duck in a thunderstorm.




lame duck

a person or thing that is powerless or in need of help – informal

In the mid 18th century, lame duck was used in a stock-market context, with reference to a person or company that could not fulfill their financial obligations. Later, from the mid 19th century, it was used specifically with reference to US politicians in the final period of office, after the election of their successor.

1998 - Spectator - At some point in his second and final term, every president becomes a lame duck as the man himself matters less, so does the office.




like water off a duck's back

a remark or incident which has no apparent effect on a person




play ducks and drakes with

trifle with

treat frivolously

This expression comes from the game of ducks and drakes, played by throwing a flat stone across the surface of water in such a way as to make it skim and skip before it finally sinks. The game was known by this name by the late 16th century and it was already a metaphor for an idle or frivolous activity in the early 17th century.




take to something like a duck to water :






take to something like a duck to water To HOME PAGE


Idioms Index – Previous Page




Related Links : take to something like a duck to water