Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
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noun
A false or misleading report or story, especially if deliberately so.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A type of aircraft in which the primary horizontal control and stabilization surfaces are in front of the main wing.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: aeronautics, aerospace, aviation, business, engineering, natural-sciences, physical-sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A horizontal control and stabilization surface located in front of the main wing of an aircraft.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: broadly
Topics: aeronautics, aerospace, aviation, business, engineering, natural-sciences, physical-sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: foreplane
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Any small winglike structure on a vehicle, usually used for stabilization.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: broadly
Topics: engineering, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, transport
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
a deliberately misleading fabrication
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: fabrication, fiction, fable
History
Borrowed from French canard (“duck, hoax”). etymology note The primary English meaning of canard comes from the Medieval French expression “vendre un canard à moitié”, which literally means “to sell half a duck” or “to half-sell a duck”. This was perhaps the punch line to a joke. Eventually the punch line came to stand for the joke and then finally the word alone stood for the whole concept. The story may perhaps have gone like this: A duck seller is successful and content as the only duck seller on a street, selling his ducks for eight francs each. A new duck seller moves in across the street who steals all the business by offering his ducks for seven francs each. Then a price war ensues, back and forth, until the new duck seller is down to three francs for a duck. The original duck seller is beside himself with worry and frustration, but finally he puts up a big sign that says, “Two francs” and then in small print at the bottom “for half a duck.” In this way, to half-sell ducks may have come to mean tricking people with something that is literally true but misleading. It has this same metaphorical meaning in French. Now in English, it simply means anything that is deliberately misleading, a hoax.
Across languages
54 source translations are retained for this English entry.
