ducks and drakes

Meaning

Noun

• A pastime of throwing flat stones across water so as to make them bounce off the surface.
• squandering of resources, especially money; used in expressions like "to make ducks and drakes of", "to play (at) ducks and drakes with".

Related

Similar words

• stone skipping, stone skimming, stone skiffing, drakestoning
• squandering, wasting

Origin

• 1585, due to association with waterfowl. The precise origin is unclear, and may be from ducks taking off from a pond, or making rings when splashing, or bobbing their heads. Early references are primarily to “making” ducks and drakes, suggesting that the circular rings produced by the skipping stone resemble those created by splashing waterfowl.
• Sense “to squander, to throw away” shortly thereafter, attested 1614, from sense of “throwing money away, as if throwing stones away in this pastime”.