duck's frost

== English == === Alternative forms === duck-frost === Noun === duck's frost A slight frost visible in the morning; (jocularly) rain (overnight). === Further reading === Joseph Wright, editor (1900), “DUCK”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume II (D–G), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC.: "Duck-frost, (a) drizzling rain; wet night; (b) a slight hoar-frost; [...] War.3 ‘There was a frost last night, I fancy?’ ‘Oh yes, a duck's frost.’ This reply would indicate that the night had been at least moist. se.Wor.1 s.Wor.1 It'll be a duck's frost afore themorrow. Glo. (A.B.), Glo.1, e.Suf. (F.H.) Wil.1 Ironically used at Deverill, as, ‘Ther'll be a frost to-night.’ ‘Ah, a duck's-frost,’ viz. none at all. (b) Nhp.1 A slight frost, freezing at night and thawing in the morning. War.2, Shr.1 Wil.1 That kind of frost which comes on in the early morning, and is accompanied with some rime on the grass — a duck's frost, just sufficient to check fox-hunting, Jefferies Gamekeeper (1878) vii."