English

Noun

ducks and drakes ‎(uncountable)

1. A pastime of throwing flat stones across water so as to make them bounce off the surface.
   • 1585, The nomenclator, or remembrancer of Adrianus Junius, John Higgins:

     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.^[1]

2. squandering of resources, especially money;, used in expressions like "to make ducks and drakes of", "to play (at) ducks and drakes with".
   • 1614, Tu Quoque, James Cooke:

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

   • Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

     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.

Synonyms

• (pastime): stone skipping, stone skimming, stone skiffing, drakestoning
• (squandering): squandering, wasting

Derived terms

• to play ducks and drakes with
• to make ducks and drakes of one's money

Translations

References

• “Play ducks and drakes”, The Phrase Finder, Gary Martin.
• Ducks and drakes, World Wide Words, Michael Quinion

1. ↑ Regarding this last line, “a ducke and a drake, and a halfe-penie cake”, compare the nursery rhyme:

   A duck and a drake,
   And a halfpenny cake,
   With a penny to pay the old baker.
   A hop and a scotch
   Is another notch,
   Slitherum, slatherum, take her.