duckbill

[Eng. duck, and bill.] Zool.: Ornithorhynchus an at in us , also called the Duck-mole, Water-mole, or Duck-billed Platypus, a genus of mammals peculiar to Australia and the neighboring islands. It is of all animals which suckle their young the most like a bird. Ithas a rather flat body of about eighteen inches in length, and the head and snout greatly resemble those of a duck, whence the popular name; the feet are webbed and flat, tail short, broad, Duckbill. IMG:content-0617.png:[blocks in formation] 1. Lit .: The act of dipping or plunging in water. "After which the ceremony of ducking was not omitted." -Cook: Voyages , vol. iii., bk. ii., ch. i. 2. Fig .: The act of bowing, bending the head, or cringing. "Let him scoffingly call it cringing or ducking ."- State Trials; Abp. Laud (an. 1640).