like water off a duck's back
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English[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Audio (AU) (file)
Prepositional phrase[edit]
- (simile, colloquial, idiomatic) Without immediate or lasting effects.
- 1919, Lucy Maud Montgomery, chapter 18, in Rainbow Valley:
- "She combs me down with her tongue sometimes though, but that just slips off me like water off a duck's back."
- 2009 January 2, Jan Espeut, “The honeymoon is over”, in Jamaica Gleaner, retrieved 20 Jan. 2009:
- Scandal after scandal would break, but it would be like water off a duck's back; no heads rolled, and no one seemed particularly perturbed.
Usage notes[edit]
Translations[edit]
without effects; in a manner having no effect
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See also[edit]
- water off a duck's back
- like a duck takes to water
- Teflon (adjective)
References[edit]
- “Like water off a duck's back”, in BBC Learning English[1], BBC, 2014 October 28