like water off a duck's back

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English

Pronunciation

Prepositional phrase

like water off a duck's back

  1. (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

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References

  • “Like water off a duck's back”, in BBC Learning English, BBC, 2014 October 28