Meaning of ducks and drakes | Babel Free

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