Word.ws English Dictionary

ducks on the pond

ducks on the pond noun: a coded warning used by men to alert each other that female guests ("ducks") are present ("on the pond"), so that for politeness they should moderate their language.

Noun

ducks on the pond pl (plural only)

  1. (Australia, plural, plural-only) A coded warning used by men to alert each other that female guests ("ducks") are present ("on the pond"), so that for politeness they should moderate their language.
    • Usually the wool presser calls first, because most visitors to a shed come through the wool room. ‘Ducks on the Pond!’ he calls, and the warning is taken up again down along the shearing board.1982, Patsy Adam-Smith, The Shearers, Thomas Nelson Australia, →ISBN, page 245
    Synonyms:
    ducks have landed, feathers flying, they're on the pond
  2. (plural, plural-only) Members of a batting order who are on base; baserunners.
    • There are two ducks on the pond for the cleanup hitter.
  3. (plural, plural-only, Car Sales) There are customers arriving on the car lot.
    • Ducks on the pond. Who is up?

Synonyms of ducks on the pond

  • ducks have landed
  • feathers flying
  • they're on the pond

Origin of ducks on the pond

* (coded warning): Originally used in shearing sheds; later extended to other normally all-male environments, such as some pubs.

Questions about ducks on the pond

What does ducks on the pond mean?
Ducks on the pond means a coded warning used by men to alert each other that female guests ("ducks") are present ("on the pond"), so that for politeness they should moderate their language.
What part of speech is ducks on the pond?
Ducks on the pond is a noun.

Words near ducks on the pond in the dictionary

  1. ducks and drakes
  2. ducks and geese
  3. ducks down
  4. ducks guts
  5. ducks off
  6. ducks on the pond
  7. ducks out
  8. ducks' arses
  9. ducks' asses
  10. ducks' guts
  11. duckshit

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ducks on the pond (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: EN-AU ck1 ducks on the pond.ogg.

Cite this entry: “ducks on the pond.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ducks_on_the_pond. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.