duck on a rock

duck on a rock n Also duck on (the) rock, ducky on a (or the) rock, duck the rock, duck off (the rock), dock on the rock, duke on a rock [Engl dial duck a stone used in games] chiefly Nth, N Midl, West See Map old-fash Also called duck n 1, duck on davy, ducks and drakes 3, duckstone Cf double duck A game in which each player throws a stone to try to knock another stone off a rock; see quots.1878 Harper’s New Mth. Mag. 56.258/1 NY, ‘Duck on the rock’ . . is far ahead of polo, pallone, lawn tenis [sic], or Aunt Sally. . . The first thing to do . . is to find a rock and a duck, also some smaller stones. . . put this largest stone on the grass—so; that is our rock; now this smaller pointed one on the top of it; that is our duck. You see, we are each to take a stone, stand off as far as you like, and aim at the duck. If you succeed in knocking it off, you must run and get your stone and be back at the home before the duck is placed in position. 1883 Newell Games & Songs 189, Duck on a Rock. . . The drake is a good-sized stone, which is placed on an elevated position, or boulder. . . The “ducks” are stones about the size of the fist. The object is to knock the drake off the rock. 1905 DN 3.78 nwAR. 1923 Acker 400 Games 109, Duck on a Rock. . . Each player has a “duck”—a fair-sized stone. A large rock is chosen as the duck rock and a throwing line is marked off twenty feet from this rock. 1950 WELS (Games in which you set up a stone . . and try to knock it down) 12 Infs, Duck on a rock; 13 Infs, Duck on the rock; 1 Inf, Ducky on a rock; 2 Infs, Ducky on the rock; 1 Inf, Duck off the rock; 1 Inf, Duck off. c1960 Wilson Coll. csKY, Duck on the Rock—common children’s game. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. EE18, Games in which the players set up a stone . . and then try to knock it down) 152 Infs, chiefly Nth, N Midl, West, Duck on a rock; 21 Infs, chiefly Nth, Duck on the rock; OR6, PA234, Ducky on a rock; IN69, NJ2, OH98, Ducky on the rock; UT3, Duck on rock; IL35, NY68, Dock on the rock; IN58, Duke on a rock; MA100, Duck the rock. [Of all Infs responding to the question, 65% were old; of those giving these responses, 82% were old.] 1966 DARE File neIL, Dock on the rock. A children’s game, reported by sixty-four-year-old woman. 1966 DARE Tape MA118, One of the main things was duck on the rock. . . We’d put one small rock on top of the big rock and then we had to stand back with rocks; we all took rocks about the same size, and we stood in a line and see if we could hit that one off the top.