odd duck

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Noun

odd duck (plural odd ducks)

1. (idiomatic) An unusual person, especially one with an idiosyncratic personality or peculiar behavioral characteristics.
   • 1936 December 11, Bill Lush, “Kelley Reveals Technique of Successful Pass Play”, in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, retrieved 28 July 2010, page 27:

     This lad Kelley is an odd duck in many ways. . . . Unlike most college youngsters, he has no hobbies.

   • 1971 June 18, “The Job Market: A New Start—Mature Women Who Work”, in The Dispatch, North Carolina, retrieved 28 July 2010, page 6:

     If you are a married woman over 45 and are thinking of taking a plunge into the job market bear in mind that you won't be an odd duck in the employment pool.

   • 2006 Dec. 21, "Sentiment—Not Sentimentality" (film review of Venus), Time (retrieved 28 July 2010):

     Is [Peter] O'Toole—skinny, tottering, eccentric in everything from costume to line-readings—wonderful in this role? Indeed he is. Always more of an odd duck than a leading man, age (he's 74) has given him license to play his essential weirdness.

Synonyms

• odd fish, strange bird, weirdo; see also Thesaurus:strange person

Translations

strange bird — see strange bird