Definition
To depart quickly or exit abruptly, especially in a manner which does not attract notice and before a meeting, event, etc. has concluded.
To depart quickly or exit abruptly by way of, especially in a manner which does not attract notice and before a meeting, event, etc. has concluded.
To move or act so as to achieve avoidance, escape, or evasion.
Origins
Possibly an allusion to the abrupt manner in which a swimming duck can dive and disappear beneath the surface of the water.
In Context
- "Wile they was still talking along these lines, the orchestra begin to drool a Perfect Day, so I ducked out on the porch for air."
- "Fearful of missing a roll-call, Representative Charles E. Bennett has ducked out of funerals, bolted from hospital beds and defied snowstorms to get to the House chamber."
- "Cathy Song needed to duck out from work at 3pm to ferry her child from pre-school to a neighbour's."
- "The four-term Democrat, known to critics as "King Kevin" and "Mayor De Luxe," has been threatened with recall petitions and recently ducked out the back door of a restaurant to avoid picketers."
- "In the one moment he saw his opponent ducking out of his field of vision and the background of white, watching faces; in the next moment he again saw his opponent and the background of faces."
- "Congress even now is considering enlarging that deficit by cutting those taxes. . . . It means ducking out of the basic Social Security problem."
- "[A]ny project for renewal is subject to a wide variety of destabilizing forces, not least when elites seek to duck out from the commitments they themselves have made."