ducks and drakes

Definitions

1. A pastime of throwing flat stones across water so as to make them bounce off the surface.
   uncountable
2. The squandering of resources, especially money; used in expressions such as "to make ducks and drakes of", "to play (at) ducks and drakes with".
   idiomatic, informal, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“A kind of sport or play⟳ with an oister shell or stone throwne into the water, and making circles yer it sinke, etc. It is called a ducke and a drake, and a halfe-penie cake.”

“They sat on a pebbly bank. Suddenly he caught sight of a nice flat stone, and, jumping up, began to make⟳ ducks and drakes on the water.”

“This royal Caesar doth regard no cash; Has thrown away as much in ducks and drakes As would have⟳ bought some 50,000 capons.”

“Pendennis’s uncle, the Major, seldom does anything without me; and as he is likely to be extravagant we’ve tied up the property, so that he can’t make⟳ ducks and drakes with it.”

“He soon made ducks and drakes of what I gave him, sank lower and lower, married another woman, I believe⟳, became an adventurer, a gambler, and a cheat.”

CEFR level